Ethno Cooking

Pasta con Sugo di Funghi e Panna - Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

2011-07-15T17:16:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:
Serves 4

400g Fresh Mushrooms (brown, button, portobello or mixed variety)
1 slice of Bacon chopped into little tiny cubes (the one with little bit more fat)
2 clove of garlics (chopped)
3 twigs of Parsley (chopped )
200 ml Fresh Cream
3 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and White Pepper for seasonings

Pasta serving for 4 (cooked al dente)

Method:

Pour olive oil in sauce pan, sauteed the garlic and bacon together. Put in the mushroom..
Slowly sauteed the mushroom until it sweat. Pour in the cream, and the chopped parsley, and as it heat up, reduce the heat and stir constantly. Season with salt and white pepper.

Tips:

Heat up the olive oil gently and put in the garlics and bacon, pour in the mushroom as it begin to brown slightly, careful not to overcook the bacon or garlics
When preparing the parsley, do not throw away the stalks, chopped them up, they are the most flavoursome, gives the sauce some texture (crunchy)
When mixing in the cream, the cream is cold so let it heat up and immediately reduce the heat when it start to show that it is 'cooking' and stir gently to mix the flavour into the cream, careful not to overcook the sauce, i.e. sauce too dry
Overall, watch your timing, do not overcook any of the ingredients, otherwise they loose their moisture and flavour.
No time measure given, due to the many factors that can vary it, e.g. intensity of fire, moisture content in the ingredients, etc. Time it yourself by observing the food as it cooked.

Moujaddara - Rice with lentils

2010-12-08T02:06:00.000-08:00

One of my friend who is originally from Israel, took us to Wallah, a middle-eastern restaurant in St Kilda. They have some interesting middle-eastern cuisine which I have never tried before, one which I like a lot is Moujaddarra (initially I had difficulty saying the name, but now it comes naturally). This dish has very nice texture (between fluffy rice and biting lentils) and it is so fragrant with the spices and caramelised onions. And it is absolutely nutritious.

The next day, I had a go at cooking the dish, and I am hooked.

Ingredients:

1 cup of Brown lentils, rinsed

1 1/2 cups of Basmati Rice, rinsed

3 to 3 1/2 cups of Water

4 Onions, sliced

1/2 tsp Cumin powder

1/4 tsp Mixed Spices

1/2 cup Olive Oil

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Serves 4

Method:

Put lentils in a deep pan, bring it to boil for a few seconds. Then lower the fire to simmer for 20 mins.
Add salt, pepper, cumin, mixed spices, rice, let it simmer (covered) for another 20 mins.
While the rice and lentils is cooking, heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Fry the onions until caramelised (be careful not to burn the onions). Remove the onions using a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add the oil that was used for the onions to the rice and lentils, stir gently in.
Scoop the rice and lentils out to a serving dish and garnish with the caramelised onions

Serve hot or cold with yoghurt.

Nasi Dagang with Tuna Fish Curry

2010-08-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

I am always fascinated with the food and culture on the East coast states of Peninsular Malaysia, i.e. Kelantan and Trengganu. They are so different from the West coast which are very much influenced by the Indian, Indonesian , Chinese, Persian and Arab. The food and culture in Kelantan seem to be untouched through the passage of time and seem to have parallels with the Balinese.

My own theory is that they represent the traditional food that was once in this region before the huge influx of spice traders from India and the Middle East to this area. And during that time, there was a big change in the culture from a Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms (remember the enormous Borobudur and Angkor Wat structure) to the Persian influenced Islamic sultanate sometime in the fifteenth century. As Kelantan is quite remote from the influence from the Islamic sultanates, much of their culture remained from that time, similarly the Balinese (former subject of the Hindu kingdom of Majapahit) kept their heritage when they are exiled to the island of Bali. You can see the roots of the culture from the characters from the 'Wayang Kulit', a traditional shadow puppet play which depicts the story from Hindu's Ramayana, which is still perform today in both Bali and Kelantan.

Sorry to be carried away with the history lesson, now this dish - the Nasi Dagang together with the Tuna Fish Curry is a traditional dish from Kelantan. Translated, 'Nasi Dagang' means 'trader's rice'. This dish is probably a street food as a quick meal. This combination of the rice with the curry is one of my favourite.

I have cooked on several occasions referencing on Amy Beh's recipe and have modified it slightly to reflect on the ingredients that we can get in Melbourne.

Nasi Dagang (the fragrant rice)

Ingredients

300g Red Basmati Rice (or substitute with 200g good grade Long Grain rice mixed with 100g glutinous rice)
165 ml Coconut Milk (Small Can of Coconut Milk to make 3/4 cup thick coconut milk and 3/4 cup thin coconut milk)
1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
2 cloves Garlic, sliced finely
3 Shallots, sliced finely ( or sustitue with 1 red onion )
2 cm young Ginger, sliced finely
1/2 tsp salt

Method

Wash the rice and soak for five hours. Drain and steam the rice for 20 to 25 minutes or until half-cooked.
Stir in the thin coconut milk and continue steaming for 15 minutes until the rice is nearly cooked.
Combine the thick coconut milk, shallots, garlic, ginger, fenugreek and salt. Stir into the cooked rice and continue steaming for another 10 to 15 minutes or until rice is fully cooked.

Serve rice with Tuna Fish Curry

Tuna Fish Curry (the curry)

Ingredients

400g Smaller species of Tuna or Mackerel, e.g. Bonito, Spanish Mackerel
2 eggplants, quartered
2 pieces dried tamarind skin
200 ml Coconut Milk (Half a Tin of Coconut Milk to make 1/4 cup thick coconut milk and 1 cup thin coconut milk)

Ground the spices below in a food processor to make the curry paste:

6 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 cm piece galangal
1 stalk lemon grass
1 1/2 tbsp chili paste
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Seasoning:

Salt to taste
Sugar or Palm Sugar to taste (about 1 tsp)

Method:

Seal the fish

Cut fish into 2 cm thick round slices.
Season fish with salt and leave aside.
Heat oil in a pan until hot, coat the fish with the flour and fry fish for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
Dish out and set aside.

Cook the curry

Heat pan with 3 tbsp oil and saute combined ground spice ingredients until fragrant.
Pour in thin coconut milk and add dried tamarind skin pieces and egg plants.
Bring to a boil.
Add in fish slices and thick coconut milk.
Add in seasoning and boil for 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve with nasi dagang.

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee

2010-04-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Not many people are aware that coffee drinking is originated from East Africa. Coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia. There is a myth or legend on how it came about - Once a upon a time, there was a goat herder in the mountains of Ethiopia who noticed that his goats have been extra active after eating the beans from a bush. He took the beans back to the priests and explain what had happened. The priest was not very impressed and threw the beans in a hearth fire. The beans produced a nice fragrant (like in an italian cafe). Having been attracted to the frangrance, the priest took the roasted beans and boiled it like a spice and voila he just made the first cup of coffee.

Eventually the use of the beans as beverages were introduced to Arab cities and then it made it way to Baghdad and Venice. So if you want to be part of the coffee history, try coffee in the traditional Ethiopian way.

The video shows the ambient and the warm hospitality of Harambe, an Ethiopian restaurant in Footscray, Melbourne. Owner of the restaurant, Mrs Dershaye is preparing and serving the coffee after our meal there. It was a fantastic relaxing Saturday afternoon ( Easter weekend) well spent.

Background music: Medo Hane, by Jump to Addis from the Ethiopiques Vol 15 Album: Europe meet Ethiopia.

Durian Gâteaux

2010-04-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

The cake is made in a French style, i.e. sponge cake layers, frosting and filling. The cake is inspired by Elin's recipe , which is simple and easy to follow. It is always good not to mix the fruit pulp (of tropical fruits) into the cake mixture and bake it, the huge flavour of the fruits is usually lost in the baking process. This is confirm in my recent attempt in baking a passion fruit cake. So for this recipe (thanks to Elin) , the raw pulp retains 100% of its flavour. The strong flavour of the durian blended perfectly (in fact subdued to to classy level) with rich cream and the sponge cake.

The Old Raffles Place - Melbourne

2010-04-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

I came to know this restaurant many years ago when it was first introduced by my cousin. This little joint is tucked in the corner of busy Johnston Street, which is more known as the Spanish quarter of Melbourne.

While waiting for my food, I approached the owner, Mr. Alan Han, to let him know that I would like to do a blog on his restaurant . His candid response was "Are you going to write something controversial about my place?" He told me how upset he was with some 'bad review' in the internet about his food. This guy must be quite passionate of what he does to get too upset over it.

When we finished our meals, I complimented him for the authenticity of food served and how yummy they were, especially the 'Hainanese Chicken Rice' (photo above). This cuisine is originated from the Hainan island in Southern China. Where the folks from this island, the Hainanese, migrated to the South East Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, they brought with them this traditional cuisine.

The Hainanese Chicken Rice served here one of the best you can get in Melbourne. Every detail is looked into, i.e. the chili sauce that accompanied it and the intricate flavour of the rice (cooked with chicken stock with seasonings, hint of ginger, stock from the boiled chicken) and most important the chicken is tender and 'slippery' in texture. For those who are not familiar with this cuisine, they usually complained that the chicken is not well cooked.

The other favourite of mine is the Char Keow Teow (stir fried flat rice noodles with prawns, bean sprouts and eggs). The menu items have interesting names though they are common dishes . Each item is prefixed with a place name in Singapore where you can find a best stall or hawker centre that serves that particular dish. For example, the Racecourse Char Keow Teow served is in the 'style' that is found in Racecourse (a place in Singapore). Other items are: Lorong Melayu Nasi Goreng, Katong Chicken Laksa.

I have never asked Alan where he is originated from, as I assumed he must have come from Singapore. The restaurant proclaimed that the food served are authentic "Singaporean heritage cuisine". All menu items are street food (or hawker food) that are common in Singapore and Malaysia.

The restaurant from outside looks like an typical Asian takeway with banners shouting for attention, but when you stepped inside, it has an interesting decor, reminiscent of 70's with pink walls and photos of Singapore's colonial days. I quite like the ambient (have only dined here during the day).

Pork Chops with Blueberry Sauce

2010-03-21T01:29:00.000-07:00

This dish is based on a recipe from a popular Italian recipe cookbook, 'The Silver Spoon". I came across this recipe sometime back, and have always wanted to give it a try, however the price of fresh blueberries has been very prohibitive.

I decided to use imported frozen ones from Chile, South America which cost three times cheaper, which I wonder if the fresh berries will make a difference in the taste (will try it with fresh berries next round to compare.)

I served it with some mashed potato and a stalk of blanched brocollini.

Ingredients:

4 pcs Spare-rib pork chops
Plain Flour, for dusting
25 g Butter
3 tblsp Olive Oil
175 ml Red wine
300 g Blueberries
100 g Clear honey
Salt for seasonings

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade.
Dust the chops with flour.
Heat the butter and oil in a small flameproof casserole, add the chops and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over.
Pour in the wine and cook until it has partly evaporated, then season with salt.
Pass the blueberries through a food processor and mix with the honey in a bowl. Spread the mixture over the chops, then cover the casserole, transfer to the oven and cook for 15 minutes.
Leave to stand for 10 minutes, then serve.

Appam & Putumayam - South Indian traditional dishes

2010-03-12T15:40:00.000-08:00

This scene could have been in Chennai or Colombo. Well no, this is at The Palms food court at Blackburn Road. The hoppers or appam is a pancake made from fermented rice flour batter. These pancake are quite bland and usually have to be accompanied with sambal, a thick chilli based sauce served as condiments and a small side dish curry of your choice.

The appam is served with a choice of two types of sambal, from the three that are offered, i.e. Pol sambal - which is a grated coconut mixed with ginger and lime juice and some garlic, Katta - a sambal made from dried Maldive fish flake with chilli paste, shallot and salt, or Seeni sambal- a spicy caramelized onions and dried Maldive fish flake condiment.

I had this 'Special Hopper Deal' which includes three plain hoppers and one egg hopper with a Pol (yellow turmeric) and Seeni sambal, and a small serve of lamb curry.

You can also order a Jaggery hopper as a snack or dessert, which is simply the same appam pancake except that Jaggery, the palm sugar is added in. Instead I choose to have the Putumayam - a rice flour dough serve with brown palm sugar and grated coconut.

The appam and putumayam is very familiar to me, as I have lived with the large number of Tamils from South India in Malaysia. I practically grew up with these foods, and I considered myself lucky to be able to continue to enjoy these foods in Melbourne.

Wickedly Delicious Patisserie

2010-03-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

I am extremely cautious of restaurant with name already complimenting itself before you even step into it. In this case, my skepticism was unfounded, the food was truely 'wickedly delicious'. We stopped by this place for lunch on our way to pick some raspberry and strawberry. We were happy to have found a new place to stopover on our visit to the Dandenong Hills.

The Wickedly Delicious Pastisserie is owned by the talented pastry chef, Helena Panasweycz. Unfortunately we did not get to meet her, instead we met her mother who is helping out at the restaurant and the sous chef, Molly (picture on the left)

We had croissants, a caramelised onion and steak pie and a raspberry cake. The pie was amazing, with fillings that was so generous with big chunky steak pieces and thick gravy, and most important it was flavoursome.

The croissant was well made with the beautiful crust outside and soft centre, however it could have been better if we have come early when it was fresh out from the oven. The cake is made from hazelnut flour and with raspberry sauce dripped over it. The sauce was the highlight, and it did not dissappoint us.

Tangyuan - Traditional chinese rice balls in Soup

2009-12-22T23:25:00.000-08:00

We celebrated the Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice festival yesterday. Traditionally, this festival is to celebrate the change of the season; it marks the end of the extreme of Winter (in the northern hemisphere) and from this point onwards, the days will be increasingly longer. However, here in the Southern Hemisphere we will find the days getting shorter and shorter.

On the Dōngzhì Festival, we make the traditional Tangyuan, literally translated it means 'ball in soup'. Though ready-made ones are easily available, we prefer to make them from scratch. It lends to the festive spirit and it is simple to make.

Ingredients

1 cup glutinous rice flour
4 ounces water
Fresh ginger, small piece about 3 cm, crushed
Sugar

Method

Place flour in the large mixing bowl
Gradually mix in the water until the mixture gains a dough-consistency; you may not need all the water
Knead the dough for 5 minutes
Pinch off small pieces of the dough and roll them into balls, traditionally it is preferred to have some small and some big ones
Put a pot of water to boil
Drop the balls into the boiling water
When the balls float up, scoop them out and set aside in a bowl with water at room temperature.
Prepare the syrup soup by boiling the sugar and ginger in a pot.
Serve the glutinous rice balls with the syrup soup.

Things can get a bit more complicated when you start adding colours or putting fillings in the rice balls. It reminds me very much of the commercialization of our traditional food. You can find technicolor balls with myriad option of fillings in the Asian grocery store.

Chocolate Cake Supreme

2009-12-20T13:15:00.000-08:00

This chocolate cake is simple to make. It has a nice texture with soft crunch of the fresh walnuts. I pay particular attention to the choice of the main ingredients, going to great lengths to look for the freshest walnuts and good tasting chocolate.

Ingredients

1/4 cup Thickened cream
200g dark cooking chocolate, chopped ( Try Whittaker's Dark Block over standard Cadbury or Nestle cooking chocolate)
3 eggs, separated
150g Castor sugar
80g Unsalted butter
60g plain flour, sifted
60g self-raising flour, sifted
100g walnut halves, cut into 3 or 4 pieces
a pinch of cream of tartar
60g Sultanas
1/4 cup of Drambuie or other liqueur

Method

You need a buttered 22cm (81/2 inch) cake tine
Pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F
Mix sultanas and Drambuie in a bowl
Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan and then on a very low heat add the chocolate to melt
Beat egg yolks and sugar until fluffy and white
Whisk butter into chocolate preparation then gently mix in the egg yolk preparation, the two types of flour, the walnuts and the macerated sultanas
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.
Using a rubber spatula or large metal spoon, fold the beater whites into the chocolate prepartaion and pour the mixture into your cake tine.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before carefully unmoulding onto a cooling rack.
Before serving, dust the top with icing sugar or ice with the a chocolate ganache.

Orange Almond Cake

2009-12-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

We have a few friends over for tea and decided to bake a cake. Looking through my collection of recipes, I decided on either the Orange Almond and Chocolate Supreme cake from Gabriel Gate. Undecided on the cake to make for the afternoon, I bought ingredients for two cakes and ended up making them both.

I started the day putting the oranges to simmer and preparing the blanched almonds. This flourless Orange Almond cake is basically based on the traditional Sephardic Jews recipe. The Sephardi are originally from the Iberian peninsular (where Spain and Portugal is) where oranges are plenty.

This is truly a slow-food - having to prepare the blanched almond from scratch and simmering the orange for two hours.
Put on my favourite CD and work on the almond til the last song on the CD.This is the best way to chillout. Alternatively, you can buy ready blanched almond or ground almond meal.

After putting in the Orange cake to bake for an hour, the girls left to go for a walk in the creek park to work out an appetite, when it's time to start the next cake.

The cake is moist and had the truly awesome orange flavour. As the almonds are not finely ground, it has a nice texture.

Ingredients

2 Unblemished oranges
1 1/2 cups Blanched Almonds
1 cup Castor Sugar
5 eggs (size 61 gm)
1 tsp Baking Powder
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Buttered or lined a 20cm (8 in) cake tin.
Place the washed oranges in a pot with enough water to cover. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for two hours. Drain oranges and allow to cool.
Blend almonds and sugar in a food processor until almonds are in quite small pieces. Transfer to plate.
In the same food processor, blend the whle oranges to a puree. Add almond and sugar mixture and blend briefly before gradually adding the eggs and baking powder, blend until smooth.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour Cool for 10 mins before unmoulding to a cake rack.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Dried Anchovies with Petai

2009-11-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

I am taking the opportunity to revisit some of my favourite home cook dishes while my mum is visiting us from Malaysia.. This is a dish I requested for lunch today. It is a dish of stir-fried dried anchovies, onions and 'Petai'. This bean is bitter and have a very strong aroma, which makes this unusual delicacy an acquired taste. It is popular in South East Asia and North-eastern India. This beans are only available fresh in the SE Asia region, it is harvested from stringy twisted seed-pod on a tall tropical tree. They are available in Melbourne in small can, pickled in brine.

Ingredients:
1 can (170g) Petai drained - use fresh beans where available
60g Dried anchovies (Ikan bilis)
1 Red chilli, sliced
4 tbsp of cooking oil
3 Big onions sliced
1 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Black soy sauce

Method

Heat the oil in the pan. Fry the dried anchovies.
Remove and set aside the fried anchovies, leaving the oil in the pan.
Stir fry the sliced onions and chili in the pan
Next put the petai to fry with the onions.
Dissolve the sugar in the soy sauce, and pour and stir in the pan.
Lastly, shut the flame off and stir in the fried anchovies.

Mum's tips:

Taking care not toovercook the anchovies, as with any food it can impart a unpleasant bitter burnt flavour. Remember to control the heat when anchovies are about to be brown.
Optionally add a teaspoon of thick sweet black soy sauce ('Kecap manis') for colour
Do not brown onions until it caramelised as in Western cooking, preferable onions have a little bit of rawness.
Keep fried anchovies slightly crispy when stirred into the onions and petai to maintain contrasting texture. So don't cook the mixture when you add the anchovies in.

Outback Game Meat

2009-10-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

I have been away on holidays again. It is so hard to keep up with the blog when you are on holidays. I have been ambitious, planning to keep up with the posting with my Netbook, in reality you just cannot focus on the blog while on holidays.

My holidays took me to the Red Centre of Australia. This place is also known as the outback of Australia. We stayed the town called Alice Springs, a remote city surviving on activities from the gas fields, cattle farming, and a major stopover for trucks and trains from Adelaide to Darwin (northern end of Australia).

We camped in the caravan and National parks. While at Alice Springs we get to eat out at Red Ochre Cafe , a local restaurant on one cold and rainy afternoon. Here we get to sample some local fare. We had a camel pie, and a plate of assorted items ('antipasto') which include Emu and Kangaroo meat served with turkish bread and some dips.

Camel is considered a pest or unwanted species of animals, or ferals. They have been imported during the mid 19th to early 20th century to transport goods in the harsh and arid land. During that time, the Afghans were hired as the camel drivers. The camel population has grown steadily and is believe to have reached a million, the government recently allocated $17 million to get rid of this animals. Some of these has been captured and slaughtered in abattoir. So the meat are readily available. Similarly kangaroos has been culled to control the population. These animals ended up on the dining table as game meat. Not too common in Melbourne, but more so in the bush country.
I find the Emu and roo meat a bit tough and chewy. They are usually cooked rare, or alternatively they should be stewed for many hours to tennderise them.

The camel meat pie is excellent. Juicy and mildly flavoured with dried kumquat or orange peel.

At Kings Canyon (National Park) grocery/fuel station store, we came across frozen Kangaroo tails about one and half foot long. I wish they sell these in Melbourne. I would love to cook a delicious stew out of these. At the store, we picked up some camel steaks (and together with some crocodile meat which we bought at the butcher in Alice Springs), we cooked them camp. I must say I like the flavour and texture of the camel meat.

Pasta alla Puttanesca – Whore’s pasta

2009-08-08T04:25:00.001-07:00

Puttanesca come from the Italian word 'puttana' which means ‘whore’, there are a few stories on the origin of this sauce. One story goes to say that due to the limited time and the inconvenience to shop at the markets, people in these 'category of profession' (presumably in Italy ) would cook simple pasta using whatever they can get from the kitchen larder, and therefore the creation of this delicious recipe.

This sauce is very simple to made, and use ingredients that is easily available. I reviewed a few version of the recipes on the Web. I picked up some ideas watching Jamie Oliver on the youtube, which to my dismay was dubbed in German. Once I have an idea of the basic ingredients, I gathered most of the ingredients that were available in the kitchen.

Ingredients

4 tablespoon of Olive Oil
6 cloves of Garlic, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
1 bottle (300g) of Kalamata Olives*
1 bottle (110g) of Capers**
8 pcs of Anchovies
2 Dried Chillies,
2 cans (800g) of Diced Tomatoes
Some Oregano
Sea sal;t and Pepper to taste

*Sandhurst’s Barchetta kalamata
**Sandhurst’s Baby Capers

Method

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Saute the garlics and onions in the oil, control the heat to avoid ‘burning’ the garlics. Put in the rest ingredients in the order above. Slowly adding them to cook without dropping the temperature in the pan too quickly. When all the ingredients are in the pan, let it simmer for 25 mins or so to reduce the sauce to a saucy consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While cooking the sauce, you can start boiling the water for the pasta.

The amount of sauce cooked is enough for six servings. Any excess can easily be kept in the bottle for another day’s quick meal.

Bebek Betutu – Balinese Roast Duck in Banana Leaf

2009-08-07T23:32:00.001-07:00

Back from my holidays, this is my first attempt cooking a traditional Balinese cuisine. We have no idea how it will turn up, but brave enough to invite friends over to dine with us.

When we served it, I was thrilled with the result. The flavour was intense and complex with each of the herbs flavour revealing itself, complementing each other so well, not one overwhelming the other. Honestly, we have never tasted it like this in Bali. I am trying to figure out why it is different – could be the fresh herbs and generous time given in the preparation and cooking, e.g. rubbing the herbs on the duck and the one-hour steaming followed by half an hour baking in the oven. Whatever it is, we have the advantage of ample time and fresh herbs, which is always the constraint or has cost implications for a restaurant.

Ingredients:

1 Whole Duck, about 2 kgs
18 Shallots, sliced thinly
6 cloves of Garlic, sliced thinly
1 stalk of Lemongrass, tender inner part of the bottom third only, finely sliced
6 Macadamia or Candlenuts (buah pala), chopped
5 cm Fresh Ginger, peeled and chopped
7.5 cm Turmeric root, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon Black Peppercorns, crushed
5 Bird’s-eye Chillies, sliced
1 teaspoon Coriander seeds, crushed
2 teaspoon Dried Shrimp paste, dry roasted and coarsely crushed
1.5 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoon Oil
Banana Leaves, parchment paper or aluminum foil for wrapping

Method:
Wipe the duck dry and set aside. Mix all the ingredients above except for the banana leaves in a bowl. Ensure that it is mix well (I use my hand to mix it). Rub the duck inside and outside with the mixture and fill the centre of the duck with the remainder. Close the opening of the duck with satay skewers (I use little cocktail picks). Wrap it in several layers of banana leaves or foil and steam it for 50 minutes. Transfer the duck to the oven to bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes.
To serve, remove the duck from the banana leaves and cut into small pieces and serve with the ‘stuffing’.

Tip: Shallots are very expensive here, and 18 needed! I substituted half with onions. Kencur root is unique spice usually used in Balinese cooking. It has the aroma of the camphor. I still have not acquired the flavour. I left it out from the mix - you won’t missed it, unless you are a Balinese.

In Ubud, Bali, some restaurant serve the dish with chicken instead, therefore ‘Siap Betutu’, siap is chicken in Balinese, and betutu is roast or smoked. We had this dish in Bunute Restaurant (photo on the left and below, with my son Aaron). Notice the chicken is too soggy.

Guling Celeng - Balinese Roast Suckling Pig

2009-07-31T19:43:00.001-07:00

The Balinese daily food are quite simple. Usually they have rice accompanied by a selection of dishes, which includes vegetables, maybe a small amount of meat or fish and a variety of condiments (sambals). You can get a feel of this simple meal by ordering ‘Nasi Campur’ at a ‘warung’ (small eatery) in Bali.
In contrast, during a festival or ceremony, they prepared lavish dishes and eat together in a community. One of those traditional dish that is usually served during ceremony is ‘Babi Guling’.

Today, it is quite common for this dish to be served in restaurants all over Bali. One of the more well known restaurant serving this dish is ‘Ibu Oka’in Ubud.

This restaurant only serves this dish in various configuration. Business starts at 10am and usually sold out by about 3pm. I was told they can sell about five pigs a day. When we were there, we ordered the ‘special’ option which includes some crunchy bits of the roasted tribe and intestines. The standard option is just a plate of rice with a few slices of the pork and a small piece of crackling. The sauces from the marinade are poured over the serving. The marinade are made from ingredients which include garlic, shallots, fresh ginger, candlenuts, turmeric root, coriander seeds, galangal, bird’s eye chillies, lemongrass, black peppercorns, kaffir lime leaves, dried shrimp paste and salam leaves (balinese herb).

I find the serving quite small, with a small piece of the pork. Lots of rice though, with generous amount of sauce poured over it. It is not like 'Wow, this is really good!' response. The sauce is very gritty with the residual of the spices.

Malaysian Satay

2009-07-04T08:21:00.001-07:00

Note: I am currently having my vacation in Malaysia and Bali. Therefore I am taking the opportunity to write about the my culinary experience during my travel.

This particular way of preparing meat on the skewer is unique and prevalent in this Region (South East Asia). You will come across this cuisine when travelling in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. However, the flavour and style in the preparation differs between Malaysia and Indonesia (Singapore’s is similar to Malaysia). The proportion of spices used is different and the peanut sauce that accompanied this dish is usually more starchy and glazed in Indonesia.

After we landed at the KL International Airport in Sepang, on our way to KL (about 80 kms) we stopped over at Kajang, a town famous for its satay to the extent that the term ‘Satay Kajang’ is used by restaurants throughout the country to suggest the excellence of their satay.

The satay is accompanied by raw onions, peanut sauce and ‘Ketupat’- compressed rice cakes. The rice cakes are prepared by packing uncooked rice into a cage weaved using cocunut leaves. When the package is boiled, the rice inside starts to cook, swelling and compressing itself into cakes.

Back home in Melbourne, when the mood permits, we sometimes have a satay party. The preparation of satay takes a lot of effort and time, starting the day before the event. We would prepare the marinade from scratch using lemon grass, ground coriander, garlics, onions, turmeric etc., The meat is cut into little cubes. We then marinade the meat and leave it in the fridge overnight.

Next, we will have to prepare the peanut sauce. As the satay is best served hot from the grill, we cook them over the charcoal fire and served hot. This is typical of ‘slow food’ cooking; with many stages of preparation but well worth the trouble.

Though there are restaurants selling satay in Melbourne, they are pricy and not as common as in Malaysia. As my palate has changed after living in Melbourne for 13 years, I like the quality of the spices and meat here, and the details we personally put into the home-cooked satay. I find it difficult or rare to find satay of a matching to our standard in Malaysia.

Chadian Pasta

2009-06-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

This simple dish is inspired by Rob Barrett who has a cooking channel on youtube. When I first saw his video on Chadian Pasta, I was all fired up to cook the dish. However, it took me a while to find a time slot when I can cook the dish. Most of the daily meals have been planned by Lynna (my dear wife). So I have been heckling her to find a slot when I can cook this dish. Finally on a Friday evening, opportunity knocks on my door.

Ingredients

I picked up some of the ingredients, i.e. a can of chunky tuna in oil, two sweet corns and a truss of tomatoes, while I already have the two eggs and a pack (500g) of pasta in the larder.

Preparation
Put the sweet corns to boil with some salt. When it is ready, take them out and put it aside. In the same pot of boiling water, cook the pasta. While the pasta is cooking, chop up the tomatoes, open and drain the can of tuna. Cut out the corn kernels. When the pasta is ready, drain the water and keep aside a bowl of the water just in case you need some moisture for the pasta. Break two eggs into the drained hot pasta and stir it. Next stir in the tuna, tomatoes and sweet corn. Season the pasta with salt and pepper. And Voila!, we have a delicious healthy meal.

Note: Chad is an African state in the centre of the African continent.

Straits Cafe

2009-06-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

Having found this restaurant is like stumbling on the 'El Dorado' of Malaysian cuisines. Each and every Malaysian dishes served here can be used as reference standard for most, if not all Penang-style hawker food (street food that are cook in a distinct cooking style well known in the Penang Island, Malaysia). This restaurant is own by Aaron Tan who also the Chef (photo on the far right below).

In the past two weeks, I had three meals there with the family, sampling the different items on the menu. On the first visit I had Lobak (fried pieces of minced pork and prawn wrapped in bean curd skin) as a starter, Sar Hor Fun (Stir fried flat rice noodle with seafood bits and eggs), Curry Laksa and Pulut Hitam (thick black glutinous rice porridge with sugar and coconut milk) for dessert.

On my second visit we had Nasi Lemak, Rojak (Malaysia fruit and vegetable salad with a dash of prawn paste), Mee Goreng ( stir fried noodles) and Char Koay Teow. And the third visit we had Assam Laksa (thick rice noodle cooked in fish and tamarind broth with fresh herbs), Sar Hor Fun (again!!) and Crispy Chicken Rice. That covered the major items for Penang-style street food. I must say that every dishes met my expectation. They are authentic, flavoursome and balanced in terms of spices used and seasoning. Each dishes are also very well presented considering that this is not at the fine-dining prices.The services were excellent, we were being well look after by the restaurant front manager, Ms Jackie Wang and her staff.

The Straits Cafe is located at 241, Stud Road, Wantirna South, Melbourne

Coffee Encounters

2009-05-08T06:26:00.000-07:00

Melbourne have a very strong coffee and cafe culture. You can find cafes in every little corner or lane way in Melbourne. Melburnians love their coffee and they have very discerning taste when it comes to coffee. Therefore, you will find many cafes here serving good coffee.

The coffee culture here is very much influenced by the large number of Italian migrants arriving after the World War II. And with subsequent migration from the other Continents, some interesting coffee culture are seeping in.

Here are some of my coffee experiences or 'encounters':

Froth Art - The art of drinking coffee has now advanced into 'fine arts'. I was quite delighted when served a cup of coffee with the beautifully etched image of a woman's face. This was in a cafe at Swan Street.

Ethiopian Coffee - It is a great treat to have someone prepares fresh coffee while you finish your meal at Harambe Restaurant, Footscray. When I mean fresh, this is truly fresh, it starts off with roasting of the green coffee beans, grinding and brewing the coffee. The coffee is then served in a clay jug.

It is believe that the Ethiopians were probably the first to discover coffee. In the Ninth Century, the coffee were only found in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian highlanders are the first to cultivate the native coffee beans. This explains why the coffee is so deeply rooted in their history and culture.

I cannot help but noticed that Ethiopian have their coffee in Chinese teacups. Chinese influence in East Africa dates back to as far back as in the Fourteenth Century. The East African have early contact with the Chinese traders, among other items that were traded, Frankincense was much sought after.

Home Brew - At home, I brew my coffee using a moka pot. The one I have is quite fancy with two spouts and a convenient platform to hold two espresso cups. This is the next best thing to an espresso machine which I could not justify buying one. I enjoy the time spent grinding and waiting for the coffee to spew out into the cup. It is so typical of my lazy weekend; no rush, relax, and the aroma of the coffee that fills the air.
Indulgence - When you like your coffee so much, you can have a big bowl of it at Laurent Patisserie, Chadstone.

Pesto and Pasta

2009-05-04T17:43:00.001-07:00

This is a classic and basic Italian cooking. The main component is the pesto sauce. The pesto sauce is very versatile. You can combine the sauce with any pasta or you can even served it with risotto. I would sometime spread the Pesto on the toasted bread.

The pesto is very easy to prepare, all you need are good and fresh ingredients. Have it all mixed or churned in the food processor.

Ingredients

100 grams Pine Nuts
3 handfuls of Fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
100 grams Parmesan Cheese
Half a clove of Garlic
Sea Salt and ground black pepper

Method - Lightly toast the pine nuts in a pan. Grind the Pine Nuts in the food processor, or if you prefer you can pound them in a mortar. Take the grounded pine nuts and reserve it in a bowl. Next, grind the basil leaves with the garlic. Mix the pine nuts and basil together. Pour some olive oil and half of the parmesan cheese into the mixture. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Gradually add the olive oil until you get a smooth paste.

Cooking pasta seems like a simple job, but if you want to cook perfect pasta, there are few things to take note. Pasta should be cooked ‘al dente’, an Italian term used to describe the pasta that is cooked through but maintain it’s firmness.

I usually check the cooking time on the packaging and set the timer, when the cooking time is almost up, I would take a few strands to check (by eating them) if it is ready. The cooked pasta should be felt firm when bitten, as opposed to starchy and soft if it is overcooked. The time between under-cooking and over-cooking is so brief that you have to monitor the pasta very closely in the last few minutes of cooking time. "You can cook the best tasting sauce, but if you messed up the pasta, the end result is not good", this has always been my mantra when cooking pasta.

When selecting your pasta, take a closer look at the texture of the pasta. The texture will give you an idea of the quality of the pasta. Avoid those that are smooth and almost glazed. These pasta when cooked are extremely slippery and the sauce will not stick and lacks the texture. Take a closer look at photo above (by clicking on it) to appreciate the texture.

In pasta manufacturing, one of the process is to extrude the dough through a die. The quicker they are extruded, the more pasta can be made in a shorter time (make more money). However, this compromise on the quality of the pasta. There are huge choice of pasta from Italy in Melbourne, I usually stock them up in my larder whenever I come across the good quality ones in the supermarket or 'deli' grocer.

Fragolino – Dessert Wine

2009-04-17T05:50:00.001-07:00

My story on the Fragola grapes continues here with the tasting of the Fragolino wine. I managed to purchased a few bottles of the Fragolino in a local bottle shop (liquor store).

The sweet red wine is made by Michelini winery, which is located in the cool Alpine region at Mytreford, about 300 km from Melbourne. I do not know a great deal about their wines except that they may be the only one in Australia who make wine with Fragola grapes.

As part of the blog, I plan to put down some tasting notes. However, I have almost finished a bottle of Fragolino and still could not work out the tasting note. I have to sought some help from my son, Aaron.

This is his comment:

“My first impression is the strong flavour of strawberry jam. It has some acidity. Slightly bitter finish. Overall a light sweet red wine without much complexity”

We had the wine as dessert with some soft cheese from Locheilan Farmhouse Cheese which we bought when we visited the Goulburn Valley during Easter holidays.

Garden Grocer

2009-04-17T04:30:00.001-07:00

Along the stretch of road towards the countryside from where we live, there are a few ‘garden grocers’ who sell home grown fruits and vegetables.

Their produce are grown using traditional farming method, more towards organic farming. They grew them for their own consumption and any surplus are sold to supplement their income. One of our favourite grocer is Vida Jaglica (photo above), she is originally from the Serbia, a former state of Yugoslavia.

I often picked up the produce here when they are available during the warmer season (Dec to May).

Typical items are tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, shallots, garlic, potatoes, etc., cooking.

The produce we get here is very much different from those that you picked up in the local supermarket. They are ripen on the ‘tree’ and therefore more flavoursome. This is especially true with the tomatoes. Quite often that produce will have to go through a complex distribution chain before it reach the consumer. The timing when fruits and vegetables are harvested took into consideration of the time to reach the supermarket shelf, this is done at the expense of picking the fruit before it is ripe. Semi-ripe produce will also have a longer shelf life. However, you will find that they do not have as much flavour.

Roti Jala - Malaysian

2009-04-08T06:40:00.001-07:00

The food in Malaysia has so much influence from the South Indian, that in many instances we cannot clearly tell if a particular dish originated from Malaysia or has it been brought from South India. I do suspect that this dish may have been brought in. I remember coming across similar dish in the BBC's 'Feast of India' documentary.

South Indians from Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu have migrated to Malaysia in droves during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. The first wave came to take up position as clerks and supervisors in the administration and construction of public infrastructure like the railways, postal services, power generation and supply, etc., Then at the turn of the century, more came as labourers to work on the rubber estates to meet the demand for the rubber commodity. They brought with them the South Indian food culture that is so prevalent in Malaysia. To name a few, the Roti Canai (Prata), Doosai, and Teh Tarik (aerated Tea) etc.,

The Roti Jala is a lacy pancakes that is best served with dishes with lots of rich gravy. We usually served it with chicken curry (as in the photo). To make the pancake you need a special funnel with four or five spouts. You can improvise by using a sauce dispenser with a spout if you cannot get hold of this funnel.

2 cups (300 g) flour
2 cups (500 ml) fresh milk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon butter

Sift the flour into a reasonably big bowl. Beat the milk and egg together, and mix with the flour, salt and turmeric powder to form a smooth batter. Strain the batter to remove any lumps. The add the oil, stir and set side.
Heat a non-stick pan and brush the surface with the butter. Pour a ladleful of the batter into a special funnel and make a quick circular movements over the pan to form a lacy pattern.
Cook the pancake until it sets, about 1 to 2 minutes, and set aside. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

Baked Pork Bun - Chinese

2009-03-30T06:13:00.001-07:00

A friend in the neighbourhood make very delicious pork buns. She made the pork bun in the style of the ‘Seremban Siewpao’, a well known pork bun franchise in Malaysia. The first time we tried this buns was when we were invited to her place for tea. On another occasion, I made a special request for her to bring some when we invited her over for barbeque. I love these pork buns, they have a nice perfect combination of crusty pastry with soft and juicy barbequed pork fillings. Inspired, we decided to make some.

Note: Seremban a city about 50km south of the capital city Kuala Lumpur, and ‘Siewpao’ is the Chinese word for baked bun

We researched on a few recipes and found one that is close to what we have in mind. The recipe is from Lily Ng's blog. She has very good Asian recipes.

Making this bun requires two types of dough, i.e. oil dough and the water dough. The dough are made separately and later combined. For the oil dough, I use lard which is much better than shortening. Lard is both natural and tastier. Whereas shortening contains artificial transfat.

To make the Chinese pastry, the oil and water dough are cut into 20 grams and 40 grams pieces respective. These are folded together and rolled flat. It is then rolled like a Swiss roll and rolled flat again. This is repeated three times. This is how the pastry is made flaky. When it is done, the combined dough is cut into two. Each piece of the dough is then rolled flat again, and the pork fillings is wrapped with the pastry (photo on the right). The main ingredients for the fillings are the barbequed pork (Char Siew), shallots, green peas, soy sauce and oyster sauce.

The buns are baked in the oven for 10 minutes. They are then glazed with egg yolk and baked for another 15 minutes.

Lim’s Nyonya Hut - Malaysian

2009-03-22T04:40:00.001-07:00

When I migrated to Melbourne about thirteen years ago and first settled in the suburb of Glen Waverley, I did not realised that this suburb has such a large population of Malaysians (comparatively to all other suburbs in Melbourne). It is by chance that we ended up living in this area because we found a house that is comfortable and was in a convenient location.
Many Malaysians who came over to do their tertiary studies in Monash University naturally ended up settling in and around the suburb close to the campus. Therefore it is here you find a large concentration of Malaysian restaurants and grocery stores. Many have asked us if we miss the food in Malaysia. Well, living at this end of the town, the answer is ‘No’.

One of my favourite restaurant here is Lim’s Nyonya Hut. They are located closed to the Syndal Station on Blackburn Rd.
This restaurant serves Malaysian hawker food and traditional cakes.
Typical Malaysian cuisines served here are Nasi Lemak - rice cooked with coconut milk accompanied by anchovies cooked with chilli and prawn paste (photo above), three variation of Laksa, i.e. Assam Laksa, Thai Laksa (photo below) and Curry Laksa. This is probably the only place as far as I know, which serves authentic Penang Assam Laksa.
They also served Char Koay Teow, which is rice flat-noodles fried with garlic, bean sprouts, prawns, fish sauce and eggs.

Among the hawker’s food, I like their laksas and the Char Koay Teow. I tried their Hor Fun (flat rice noodles with eggs, prawns and pork cooked with starchy sauce) and their Hokkien Noodle (yellow wheat noodles cooked in dark soya sauce) and found not quite meeting my expectations. For the latter two dishes, the Palms restaurant across the road (will write-up on this place soon) cooks them better.

Thai Yim

2009-03-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular and well known Thai cuisine is the Tom Yum. This traditional Thai dish is a soup made from stock and ingredients like lemon grass, lime leaves, lime juice, tamarind, ginger, fish sauce, galangal and crushed red hot chilli. The distinct flavour of the soup is tangy, spicy, sour and some sweetness of the stock. As the weather get colder, with winter approaching, a good place to savour this soup is at Thai Yim. Thai Yim is a little restaurant located beside the Glen Waverley railway station run by the owner and cook, Toy with her partner Frank. Toy come from Kalasin, a town North East of Thailand.

We dropped in for a meal yesterday. This is our second visit. They have only open for four months. We picked a two items from the menu and a two from the 'special' chalkboard. We had green curry, Tom yum, scrambled eggs wrap and the spicy squids stir fried with vegetables. The green curry was served in a large bowl shaped like a boat. I can easily tell if it is a good green curry as I often travelled to Thailand. It need to have some fresh herbs and not just using some pre-prepared paste.

Paella Valenciana - Spanish

2009-03-08T05:13:00.000-07:00

You may recall that I posted a write-up on the Paella before. Well, I received a very encouraging comment from someone in Barcelona, who also left compliments as well as a suggestion that for a truly spanish paella, we should not put any chorizos in the paella.

We had a dinner party yesterday to celebrate my wife's birthday. I cooked the Paella to serve ten. This time I skipped the chorizos, which was only served it as part of the tapas. I think it worked well as the Chorizos does not distract from the milder seafood flavour). I think this is truly a Paella Valenciana!

I made a time-lapsed video showing the cooking of Paella from start to finish.

Below is a narrative to give you an idea what going on with the 'silent movie'.

It starts off with browning the chicken and pork, followed by the prawns. These are put aside. Next, chopped onions and garlic are sauteed in olive oil. Sliced capsicum are added to cook. The browned chicken and pork are then put back in to cook. Two cans of crushed tomatoes are emptied into the pan. The broth is allowed to thicken. The intensity of the flame is intermittently adjusted. The stock with saffron and short-grain rice are put into the pan.

At this point, as the guitar shredding is getting hotter... the seafood, i.e. the prawns, squids and blue swimmer crabs, are put in to cook with the rice. The sea mussels are then stabbed into the almost cooked rice. We let it simmered until the rice is cooked, adding water to maintain the moisture. Salt and pepper is added to taste. I have to occasionally stirred the rice up from the base to get the rice evenly cooked, if not you can end up with burnt rice at the bottom of the pan. Inevitably, there will be a thin layer of roasted rice soaked the broth at the hot spot of the pan. When the Paella is served, I love to go for these roasted bits which is so flavoursome.

When the rice is cooked it is ready to be served.

Warung Gudeg - Indonesian

2009-03-04T03:13:00.001-08:00

An Indonesian friend suggested that we should try the Gudeg dish. We do not know what to expect when we dropped by this ‘warung’ (Indonesian word for small family-owned restaurant).

We ordered their speciality dish, i.e. ‘Nasi Gudeg Komplit’ (Translated: Complete meal of Rice with Gudeg). This is a traditional cuisine from Jogjakarta, Central Java. The main item is Gudeg, which is the green Jackfruit slow-cooked with palm sugar and coconut milk with spices, which include garlic, shallot, ‘buah keras’ (Candlenut), coriander seed, galangal, bay leaves and teak leaves. The Gudeg is served with steamed rice, a braised hard-boiled egg, chicken, tofu and ox rind stew.

Other than the Gudeg, they also served a wide selection of dishes such as Lontong, Ayam Goreng Kalasan, Sate and soup noodles. Most of the dishes are not too spicy, you have the option to raise the spiciness with the hot chili paste that accompanied the dishes.

The restaurant ‘Warung Gudeg’ is located at Clayton, about 22km SE of Melbourne CBD. The restaurant is owned and run by the Rumayar family. I met Tina and her husband at the restaurant (in the photo).

On my second visit to the Warung, I tried the Lontong Cap Gomeh and Ayam Goreng Kalasan. As the name of the dish sounds a bit Chinese, I learned that Tina has Chinese descendancy. Very much so in South East Asian countries, the food has a mixed influence of different cultures. For example, Filipino dishes like Pancit and Lumpia has Chinese influence.

Good Ol' Steak

2009-02-22T04:09:00.001-08:00

Some of the best beef in the world comes from Australia. If you come across Australian Angus and Wagyu beef served in some fancy steak house in your city, that’s the testimony of the quality of the Australian beef that is so sought after.

Well, you don’t have to break the bank to savour a good meal of steak. All you need is a good steak from your local butcher and some care in preparing it. I picked up three pieces of scotch fillet (from King Island) from our local butcher. The 'marbling' is not as good as I would like it, but that is all they have that day. As the name suggests, the beef comes from King Island, which is the island between Tasmania (island) and mainland Australia. Here mostly grass-fed Angus cattle are raised for its meat. Each piece weights about 300 grams. The meat are sold in a vacuum sealed bag (wet aged).

Now, this going back to the basic. There is no elaborate seasoning or marinate, just sprinkle some salt and black pepper (freshly crushed peppercorns) on both side of the meat. Cook the meat on a grill plate (I kind of like the ones with grooves that allow the oil and fats to drain away and impart a nice fancy seared lines on the meat). Heat the grill. You can test if it is ready by feeling the heat with your palm over it (not on it!). I cooked them for six minutes on each side (medium cooked). I am particularly strict with my timing and use a timer when cooking to get consistent result. (may vary with the weight and thickness of the meat or the intensity of the flame).

When it is ready, I usually let it settled for about 5 minutes before serving. This time round I served it with red capsicums, stir fried with garlic and onions. The steak is succulent, tender and very flavoursome. I did not prepare any sauce to go with it as it already so juicy and full of flavour by itself.

River View Cafe - Mediterranean

2009-02-11T02:55:00.001-08:00

I wrote about my Fragola grapevine in my garden. Well, this is where the cutting came from. This summer we dropped in to this favourite cafe of ours in Warburton for lunch with some friends. The cafe have a patio with grapevine over it. From the patio, you can get a view of the Yarra river. We had a light (light?) lunch of smoked salmon risotto, gourmet pizza and Turkish breads with dips.

Warburton is a little countryside town in the Yarra Ranges (mountains) about 77km from CBD Melbourne. If you have heard in the news about the dreadful bushfires that is burning here in Australia, this town is still under threat from the bushfire as we speak. This town is about 45 km south of Marysville, the town that was totally destroyed by the bushfire on last Saturday. Warburton almost suffered from the same fate during the 1939 ‘Black Friday’ bushfires. The town was quite different then with a bigger population than it is today. About six hundred men defended the town and the womenfolk and children took refuge in the river. Fortunately they were able to hold off the fire until the wind changed its direction.

Opor Ayam - Indonesian

2009-02-03T02:13:00.001-08:00

The Opor Ayam or Coconut Chicken is a classic Indonesian cuisine. The chicken is braised in coconut milk. The traditional drumstick or chicken wing is substituted with a leaner chicken breast.

The chicken is first cooked in the stock with chopped onion, garlic, coriander, ginger , grated lemon skin, cumin and turmeric. After cooking for 5 mins, coconut milk, pounded macadamia nuts and cayenne pepper are then stirred in. Tamarind juice are added to the pan and simmer until the sauce thickened.

You wouldn't have guessed where I picked this recipe. It is from the South Beach diet cookbook. After a spate of festivities, it is about time to go on a diet and shed a few kilos. This is when I will kickoff my most effective diet program. We started yesterday. The beautiful thing about this diet program is that it encourages you to enjoy your food while dieting. Not many diet program are like this. I am so impressed with this program that I often raved about it. So here I go again.

This diet was developed by Dr Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist in Florida (South Beach), where he used to run a clinic. This diet is more an education on eating good and healthy food, which you can continue to follow even after you have achieved the targeted weight loss.

You probably think what on earth is a blog about good food suddenly go in reverse with a dieting writeup, well, eating well and healthy does not mean that you cannot enjoy your food. You can pick up ths cookbook at major bookshop in town.

Uva Fragola

2009-01-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

The last three days has been extremely hot in Melbourne with temperatures soaring above 40° C (43°, 44°, 45°). For the past few weeks, I have been waiting to harvest my grapes. It looks like it has suffered from the heat. These are Uva Fragola, literally in Italian, strawberry grapes. These grapes are amazing, with intense flavour of strawberry. I was taken a back when I first tasted this grape. It is as if you have popped in a strawberry lolly in your mouth.
Though italian in name (it is also called Isabella), the grape species is originally from the Americas. It used to be grown in Italy. A dessert wine, Fragolino, is made from these grapes. However in 1999, it is outlawed to protect the local grape species.
I understand that there is a vineyard in Mytreford, Victoria (a province in Australia) that grew these grapes and produces real Fragolino (there are artificially flavoured ones). I personally have not tried this wine. Will see if I can find them here in the shop.
We planted the vine last year from cuttings. We are surprised how it grows so easily and fruiting in the first year. The cutting is from our favourite bistro River View, in Warburton, which is about 77 kilometers from Melbourne CBD at the foot of the Yarra Ranges (mountains). I will write about this bistro in my next blog.

Yu Sheng - Chinese

2009-01-27T03:25:00.000-08:00

This is a traditional Chinese New Year dish originated from Chaozhou (Teochiew), Southern China. The word 'Yu Sheng' means raw fish, so this is a raw fish salad. The modern version of this dish is believe to be introduced in Singapore in the 60s and continue to be popular in Singapore and Malaysia. This dish is usually served on Renri (Everybody's Birthday), i.e. the seventh day of Chinese New Year.

There are about 20 ingredients in the salad, i.e. fresh salmon, white radish, green radish, carrot, pickled ginger, chopped toasted peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, glaced melon strips, pickled leeks, gherkins, pomelo pulps, crunchy noodles, pickled carrots, sweet preserve of papaya and cucumbers, mixed sweet citrus peel. For the dressing, plum sauce, and a touch of soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper.

The radish and carrots are shredded into cold water. The shredded vegetables are then squeezed dry and refrigerated to make them crispy.

Yu Sheng is served as an appetizer. A ritual known as 'Lo Hei' (in Cantonese - a chinese dialect) meaning 'mix it up high' is perform by family and friends gathered around a table, each armed with a chopstick. On the cue, everyone toss the salad and someone will recite the poetic wishes out loud to usher in the new year.

Nian Gao - Chinese

2009-01-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. It is a tradition for Chinese to have a family reunion dinner. There are several traditional dishes for the ocassion. The dishes served are symbolic to usher in the new year. This could be based on the appearances, i.e. long stringy noodles signify longevity, chicken need to be served whole with the head and tail, signifying the wholeness or completeness of tasks ahead or relationship. It could also be based on how the name of the dishes sound in Chinese. For example, in Cantonese (a Chinese dialect) a dish of black moss with dried oyster called 'Fat choi ho si'. Fat choi means having good luck and Ho Si means good business. Oranges which are called 'Kum' which is a pun for Gold, is eaten or given as gifts.

A friend of mine, Pinky, she made these beautiful Chinese carps and piglet (auspicious symbols) with glutinous rice flour. This is her interpretation of the traditional new year sticky cake, 'Nian Gao'

Wishing you all a 'Happy Chinese New Year'.

Tao's - Asian-Western Fusion

2009-01-18T02:12:00.000-08:00

I am going to break my own rule here and list this restaurant which does not belong to any ethnic group. This is a modern fusion cuisine, combining East Asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese) and Western. It is too good and need a mention in my blog.

This is a lunch we had at the Tao's restaurant on Sunday. Tao's is located at 201 Bulleen Road. We had 4-course set lunch. The presentation is so creative and a sight to behold that it took me a while to start to dig my fork in. I had sashimi as the starter, followed by beef carpaccio entree, and a baked rockling fish as the main course, and finish off with creme brulee. The sauce for the fish is a blending of butter and miso (japanese bean paste).

Hudadak - Korean

2009-01-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

Clayton is where Monash University, one of the renown Australian university is located. Here, there is a large Asian student population from China and Korea. The number of students from this two nations has now outnumbered those that came from the South-East Asian countries. It is not surprising that you will find many restaurants catering for the 'homesick' students who missed their Mum's cooking. There is one Korean restaurant, Hudadak, who is run by Jina Choi (in the picture), the owner and the cook, who serves good homestyle traditional Korean meals.

We ordered some special dishes off from wall menu, i.e. noodles in white bean broth and soba with traditional korean soya bean paste sauce for lunch.

The noodle with the white bean broth has an interesting monotone colour, so Zen. It has a nice texture and flavour of raw ground bean. It is served cold, and perfect for that hot summer afternoon.

Nasi Goreng - Malaysian

2009-01-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

I reckon Nasi Goreng is an Asian dish that has gained most acceptance from people all over the world. You'll find that Westerners are quite fluent in ordering the dish. Nasi goreng is a Malay word when translated means fried rice. Nasi goreng is popular in the South East Asian countries. The dish is probably propagated by the Dutch to the Western cities along the old sea route, like Cape Town and Amsterdam.

I have a very close friend whose son, Ewe Jin, who is thirteen. He started to learn to cook, and enjoying it. He specialised in cooking Nasi Goreng. So far on two occasions we have requested his mum and dad to have a meal of his Nasi Goreng and nothing else. On both occasions, our lovely hosts prepared a Malaysian feast to accompany the humble fried rice.

Harambe - Ethiopian

2008-12-30T04:28:00.000-08:00

There are a few suburbs in Melbourne where migrants comes from Eastern regions of Africa (e.g. Sudan, Erithrea and Ethiopia) settled. One of the suburb is Footscray. Here there are several Ethiopian restaurants. On a weekend, we went to one of our favourite, Harambe, which is at the end of Nicholson Street.

Harambe has an interesting setting, with thatched roof and a decor that virtually transport you to a cafe in Addis Ababa.

We ordered a sampling of traditional Ethiopian cusine consisting of vegetable and meat side dishes and entrees (see photo), i.e. wot, a thick stew, and minchet - a spiced minced meat stew. The dishes are served on top of Injera, a large sourdough flat-floppy bread. These are served in a large brightly coloured enamel pan, which is shared by all around a table. The food are first served in small bowls of different size and shapes, brought to the table on a trolley, they are then served (or poured) on the big colourful enamel pan. No cutlery is provided, it is a usual custom to have your meals with hands. This is what the Western culture probably missed when food are eaten with fork and knife, i.e. the feel of the food, the texture and warmth. You will notice that Ethiopian do not serve pork or shellfish, as they are forbidden by their religion, which is Islam, Jewish or Ethiopian Orthodox Christian.

To complete Ethiopian experience, we finished off with a glass of Ethiopian 'Dashen Beer'.

Breizoz - French

2008-12-27T11:37:00.000-08:00

We tend to associate French cooking to a more formal and elegant dining. Here at Breizoz, a french creperie tucked at the shore front of Williamstown, you can savour some galettes in an casual and relax setting. The creperie is housed in a former missionary centre with a little 'chapel' behind. If you like to have your galettes alfresco, you can have it in the courtyard in the middle of the creperie.

The photo above is the galettes that I ordered (I know...I know.. it is ugly, looks like a p____ ,but it is delicious). It is a galette with black pudding and onions. There is quite good selection on the menu, you can have your galette with cheese and eggs, praline, or seafood, etc. When I ordered this combo, Catherine who took my order said,' You're my type of man'.

Galettes are French pancakes or crepes made from buckwheat flour. Galette is an essential food to the French who lives in the region of Bretagne, north-west of France. Since my first visit to Breizoz, I have been making galettes at home.

Try some of their refreshing cider, which certainly go well with the galettes.

The creperie, is run and owned by a chef, Jean-Marie Blanchot (on the right) and Catherine (not in the picture).

Paella - Spanish

2008-12-20T04:14:00.000-08:00

The Paella is a traditional dish from Spain. It is basically short-grain rice cooked in stock with a selection of fresh seafood, i.e. mussels, prawns, squids, scallop, fish bits. We also add in some chorizos, porks and chicken.

As an alternative to BBQ, we cooked a Paella on our 4-ring outdoor gas burner. A large pan of Paella can cater for quite a big number of guest. We like serving the Paella in the middle of the table and let the guest scoop whatever they like from the pan. It's kind of communal feasting.

In Melbourne, there is a Spanish quarter along the Johnston Street, Fitzroy (annual Spanish festival is held here too).

There are several Spanish restaurant, e.g. Spanish Club, Kanela, etc., There is also a Spanish grocery, Casa Iberica (25, Johnston St) where we picked up the ingredients and cooking wares required for the Paella.

Spiced Duck with Pears - Spanish

2008-12-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

Catching up with my cousins who lives in Melbourne, we cook them a dinner of baked duck in Spanish style.

The duck pieces are baked for one and a quarter

hour. Then caramelized pears and the Picada sauce are added to the tray and baked for another fifteen minutes >

Pollo alla Cacciatore - Italian

2008-09-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at cooking this classic Italian dish. You will always find this dish on the menu at most Italian restaurant. There are so many variation and interpretation of this dish, which present a challenge to cook one and see how it will turn out. I pulled out several versions from the net and try to figure out what is common in this dish. Cacciatore means hunter, therefore the chicken cook in Hunter's style. I suppose any bird with bones on it, cooked with Italian herbs sauce falls into this category of dish.

Well, the dish turned out good with rounds of compliments from the family.

The next day, I consulted my colleague, Monsieur Rousseaux, whom I always share my culinary adventure; he reckons it is more like the French 'Coq Au Vin' (Chicken cooked in Chasseur sauce), especially with the amount of mushroom I put in and the absence of tomatoes, and a few other ingredients he thinks is essential to the dish, like olives and anchovies (to add some sharp taste to it). Point taken for my next round of Cacciatore!

Recipe
1 x
1.6kg Fresh Chicken (preferable Free-range) - cut in 8 pieces, i.e. two legs, two thighs, two wings and the back cut in half.
2 tblsp Extra Virgin Oil
1 large Onion, sliced
5 large brown mushroom (or white mushroom whichever is available), sliced
3 sprigs of Parsley, chopped
3 stalks of Oregano, chopped
3 cloves of Garlic, crushed
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Half a cup of White wine - that you would drink.

Wash and pat dry the chicken, marinate with salt and pepper In a frying pan large enough to accommodate all the chicken pieces, heat the olive oil on medium heat. Brown the chicken parts a small lot at a time until all have been browned. Remove from pan and put them aside.

With the oil still in the pan, add the onion and garlic and saute, stirring until transparent. Return all the chicken pieces to the pan and
stir well so that all the pieces are well coated with the sauce in the pan. Add the Parsley and Oregano. Stir well.

Pour the half cup of white wine over the chicken and mix the ingredients well. Continue on medium heat allowing the wine to evaporate ('reducing it'). When the sauce has thickened, add the mushrooms (should provide more moisture), reduce the heat to Low, cover and cook until done, 30-60 minutes, until the chicken are tender. Serve with rice.

Pumpkin Pasta with Rosemary - Mediterranean

2008-09-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

On a lovely Spring day at Yarra Valley, we came across a cut piece of Musquee De Provence pumpkin, deep orange in colour. We brought back the small piece of pumpkin and worked out how we can prepare a meal. We found this recipe on the net by James Martin, BBC Food, and cook ourselves a nice dinner. The pasta, from Calabria, southern coast of Italy has been sitting in our larder.

We modify the recipe with healthier options, i.e. we left out the butter and double cream, instead substitute with enough olive oil and 150ml of light cream. More generous amount of garlic and shallots. We use the fresh herbs (parsley and rosemary) from our garden.

Ariana, Sahar & Pamir - Afghan

2008-04-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

One of the interesting suburb in Melbourne is Dandenong City, about 34 km or 35 mins drive from CBD. Here along Thomas Street, there are several good restaurants where you can sample the traditional food of the Afghan. The ones that I frequent most is Sahar and Ariana. I have yet to try out Pamir, which is further up the street. Afghan food are very close to food in Northern India and Pakistan as they share the common border. Their food is quite spicy and usually accompanied by pickles and yoghurt. Most of the dishes are eaten with the Naan bread.

I have dropped in on several occasion to have my meal there. On one occasion, I packed lunches on our way to the Sorrento beach for a picnic and swim.