You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July, 2008.
One of the benefits of living down under is that you get to celebrate Christmas twice a year. It’s been really cold lately- not cold cold, but for Aussie spoilt with sunshine and warmth it’s been unbearably wet and chilly.
Christmas seemed to have arrived very early this year in many ways.
I got my first Xmas present from my friend, Alice, who knows my fashion taste better than myself. She’s so good at picking the right present for people. I’m still wearing the slippers she got me for my birthday 2 years ago. I called them bumper cars. They are always parked by the bed and I drive around the house in them.
Thanks again, Alice, for the lovely fancy shoes. I’ve been enjoying wearing them.
I also got a job that I had tried to get for a long time, so my spirits have been very high this winter.
To keep the Xmas spirit going, I called for an instant midwinter Christmas party with some friends and students of mine to give them a cultural experience about Christmas in July – more honestly as an excuse for more food and booze :-O.
Capsicum Cashew Pesto, Olive Cashew Tapenade and Salsa Vede
I was going to get a Xmas tree and tinsels, but shops didn’t have them on sale yet, not til December. But I still made an effort to give a bit of a Christmas feel, at least a party feel, to my place for the guests by hanging around balloons and party.
Initially, I wasn’t going to do much cooking up since people were bringing some food, then I thought, ‘The party wouldn’t be the same without one big dish for people to share like big roasted turkey.’ So I went down to the fish market – god, I love living so close to all that fresh seafood! – and got a HUGE salmon, about 3kg. The weight of the fish in my hand made me so excited and, at the same time, worried about cooking it right so that it wouldn’t all go to waste.
Realising the fish was too big to fit in my oven, I chopped off around the head and kept it for dinner later. Cooking whole big salmon turned out to be less hassle than I imagined. All you need is a bunch of fresh dill and a whole packet of coarse sea salt. Now with the big Christmas feed in the oven, it is time to make the special green sauce to go with it - Salsa Verde.
I combined two recipes found on the net and made my own green salsa. To make 2 cups of salsa verde
A whole bunch of parsley, mint and basil – finely chopped – I didn’t use a food processor to make it look more rustic
A whole small jar of capers in white wine vinegar, two garlic cloves and 6 anchovies – I processed these for smoother texture to contrast with herbs.
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs lemon jice
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
I had a lot of comments on this sauce from my guests. They got absolutely blown away by it and started floating around the house with balloons.
The whole fish business was the highlight of the evening, leaving so little praise for my unfortunate Christmas cake yet to be served.
Christmas cake is meant to be made long before the special day so that the fruit flavor can be brought out. Since it wasn’t going to be a traditional cake, I created my own recipe, less fruity and nuttier – modern Christmas cake, that is, in an effort to watch out my bulging waistline. *:-P*
My students brought some desserts as well, and the Thai coconut banana was really delicious, yet not as good as my cake 
Thank you to all the guests who came around that night despite the rain. I really appreciate your effort you had to make to drag your cold and wet body outside, and all the lovely food you brought. I hope you all had lots of laughter and enjoyed the strange experience of having a Christmas party in the middle of winter with bunch of strangers.
Merry Christmas, everyone, once again.
Let’s hope for the best Christmas to come this year.
My culinary travel has marked almost every country on Earth that is so far considered to be international. I travelled further to Brazil this weekend and discovered the whole different world of cooking. With the help of my Brazilian student ‘L’ we succeeded in bringing to the table the national dish of Brazil ‘Feijoada’. Despite the difficulty to find exact ingredients we managed to produce it as close to the traditional look and taste as possible. ‘L’ was VERY excited and surprised by how well it turned out, being his first time making it by himself. – I said, “It’s all because of my good culinary energy passed on to you.” *ha ha*
It is quite a hearty meal. No wonder why it is cooked once a week or even less occasionally these days. When ‘L’ said traditionally it was made with all weird parts of a pig including ears and feet, I was glad that there was no way we could get them in a supermarket these days. After a long rummage in the meat section we got bacon, ribs and sausages that looked as similar as ones used in the original cooking. As we expected supermarkets didn’t have ‘black beans’, the most crucial ingredient, but we were lucky enough to be close to Paddy’s market, in which I remember seeing them in a Turkish dried nut stall.
The beans took long to cook since we didn’t soak them in water overnight. Then separately barbecued meat was added to the boiled beans after two hours, and came the most interesting part of putting an orange into the pot, which was supposed to help to skim off fat. *I’m not sure, though, whether it REALLY does the job it is meant to do.*
While the pot was simmering away, ‘L’ made special sauce with the liquid reserved from boiling black beans by adding some onion, chili and pepper. This dish is served with special root flour called ‘farofa‘, but the closest we could find was ‘coarse semolina’, and he toasted it together with butter and bacon. Finally, rice was cooked with chopped onion and I was put in charge of making tomato&capsicum salsa, which got a thumbs up from ‘L’. After three hours of cooking, the special dish was finally served and by that time we were so starving.
Feijoada with tomato, capsicum salsa, onion rice, bacon farofa
How does it look? We ate it with Korean beer ‘Cass’, which ‘L’ said tasted quite similar to Brazilian beer. I should say it was the most unusual dish I have ever come across. The crunchy, grainy texture of semolina flour and the colour of the dish being black, which isn’t one of the most appetising colours. The salsa is a must with this heavy dish because it adds a refreshing taste to every single heavy mouthful.
As soon as each plate had been cleared, people started to rub their tummy and close their eyes. We were full of beans-literally-, but instead of getting up and jumping around, we got all knocked out and started dreaming about Brazilian farmers taking a nap under the shade of trees after their big lunch like this.
Hats off to their amazing metabolism and ability to shake around their bum at parties after eating ‘feijoada.’
It’s been bringing out old photos again. I wonder if other food bloggers only post their latest work. I’m sure that they, first of all, carefully pick a recipe worth to be published, try it a few times until it’s successful and organise a day for cooking, set-ups and shooting.
But for me, it never works that way. I make something by my instinct, never by recipes, normally for dinner, get surprised at the unexpected outcome, make a dash for my camera, and there’s no time for lighting, settings or decorations because- what do you think? It’s my dinner, right? -I’m HUNGRY! After a few clicks it’s all down and inside my happy tummy. Then, the chance of eating the same dish twice is near ZERO, no matter how good it was.
I define my cooking as spontaneous and adventurous. I NEVER make the same dish twice. Even if I eat different food every night, I’m sure, I will be dying still regretting leaving so many boxes unticked on my must-eat-before-die list.
These muffins were made as a thankyou treat for one of my student, who brought me ‘Puff’ – popular Chinese custard cake in Sydney – after he borrowed an umbrella from me one night. I warn you to be cautious before taking a bite into a puff that has just come out of the mould. I know someone who gets his tongue burnt by the hot custard inside every time he eats it.
I’d call them naughty-all-in-one muffins because if you take one bite of it you’ll have eaten everything you’d want from dessert. Chocolate, coconut and orange… ok, not everything, but it sounds pretty naughty, doesn’t it? It’s normally either orange poppy seed or chocolate coconut combination, but the two mated and gave birth to this. This is one of very few photos that I took at daylight. Does it look any better than others taken under the dim kitchen lights? *I wonder.*
Chocolate Coconut Muffins with Orange Icing
I gave these to my student at the next meeting and he said they were ‘divine’. I couldn’t agree with him more. I thought I would be making another batch then, but that hasn’t happened until now. My next mission is ‘Chocolate Pistachio Brownies’ , which came out all burnt on my first trial. *I underestimated them and they defied me! Ha Ha :-O*
I didn’t used to like cinnamon as a child – I guess it’s normal – I can’t put my finger on when and how my love affair with cinnamon started. Some days my craving for cinnamon gets really crazy and I would find myself tucking into everything cinnamon- cinnamon donuts, cinnamon scroll, cinnamon biscuits, etc. – at one sitting.
The quickest way to soothe my cinnamon craving that I try when I can’t be bothered to venture out in search of any of the items I listed above is to spread some honey on toast and then sprinkle cinnamon over it, and if I’m lucky enough to have some bananas lying around they would go on the toast, then under the grill before getting smothered with honey and snow of cinnamon. *God, I love it!*
On special occasions fresh ricotta cheese would be added to it and it becomes a dream come true.
When I made this cake I was having a cinnamon craving attack. There were a lot of granny smith apples that had been sitting in the fridge for a week leaving very little space for everything else. So I chopped up 4 apples although the recipe I was following said ‘2′, – no! I wasn’t taking baking as garbage disposal or anything…- then tossed them in the crumble mixture of flour, butter and cinnamon. When I finally came to topping, I realised it was WAY TOO MUCH apples, but still my mind was set to using up all the apples, so I managed to fit most of them on top of the cake batter. As I was watching the cake in the oven, the concern that the heavy topping would weigh down the cake lingered in my head. *nail biting anxiety*
As concerned, the top was too heavy and had too much liquid from apples. Biting my lips, I had to put the cake back in the oven to dry out the moisture on the top and make it crispier. *never make the same mistake again*
But after all, the cake wasn’t TOO bad, except for that it was a bit dry from being in the oven for too long. Lots of cream made up for the lost moisture in the end.
I don’t know why I’m making what was such a delicious cake sound so unappetising. Why am I posting this, you ask? I mean, it WAS delicious and everyone I shared it with enjoyed it – at least, they said so. I’m only trying to prove it wrong that we say ‘a little bit more of it won’t hurt’, no matter how good it is. My could-been-perfect cake suffered because of my greed and I sincerely apologise for that.
In conclusion, it was YUMMY because it was cake!
It’s raining outside right now, but we had have many warm and sunny days. Some days almost felt like early summer.
Wet and cold days often make me feel like, first off, baking – to warm up the house- and eating Indian – to warm up inside me. 
This photo was taken from a hotel room when I moved back here after 10 month in windy Wellington – but in fact it was ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire’ situation. Last summer was unusually wet to everyone’s surprise.- The room was quite high up and I enjoyed looking out the window and down at the world below. I don’t like rain, though, I like watching rain hitting a glass window and leaving traces of tears. -Oh uh, getting sentimental, ain’t I? *did it work? at least I tried*
Prawn masala and fish tikki masala are my all time favourites in an Indian restaurant in Surry Hills.
I have a lot of good memories with my girlfriends there. We would go there for a girly chatty night. At first, it took a while to convince them to try any Indian good because of their aversion to Indian spices. But it only took one mouthful of prawn masala and vegie korma to give them curry craze. *isn’t it right, Jamie and Alice?*
Ok, Indian for dinner. Let’s see what I’ve got in the fridge. A bag of frozen prawns- one of the items I always have at hand – and leek. Leek? Hmm, Indians wouldn’t use leek in cooking, but I don’t see why I can’t.
Yeah, leek got on well with prawns. It was success. So here you get to see the photo.
This is not an authentic version, yet is a kind of dish you can make without too much hassle any time you feel like something Indian. It is especially perfect for those who can’t stand strong Indian spices and herbs.
Prawn&Leek Masala
Where’s naan? I had Lebanese bread as makeshift naan and it was quite good. Next time I might turn it into garlic naan by toasting it with a bit of oil and garlic. *he he*
Curry is so easy to make and full of goodness. When you have a cold, nothing is better than curry to wipe out the evil virus inside your body.
Recipe?
Well, put lots of garlic, onion, leek and chili in and boil the crap of them with some tomato and garam masala mix, which you can get from a spice section in a supermarket. Make sure you add prawns at the last minute to keep them nice and tender.
Actually, one of my friend who tried this dish said it was absolutely fabulous and I needed to get it known to everyone. So I’d better give you a bit more detailed recipe.
To serve 2 big eaters like me, you need
half stalk of leek, roughly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced
2-4 small chili- vary to your tolerance to hotness
1 canned tomatoes or 3 fresh tomatoes chopped
prawns – 5-6 prawns per person? Well, it’s up to you!
garam masala mix
2 tsp tumeric
2 tbsp oil
salt and pepper
1. Cook garlic, ginger, onion, leek and spices with oil
2. Add chili and tomatoes, and cook for 5 minutes and reduce to low heat and simmer for 20 minute – add some water if it becomes too thick.
3. Finally, add prawns and cook until prawns turn pink
I normally mix cooked rice with finely grated carrot because it looks nice.
If you go to any festivals or outdoor events in Australia, your chance of coming across a Turkish Gozleme stall is 100%. Yeah, right, it’s THAT common. It’s normally old Turkish ladies in a traditional white dress generously splashing oil around while flipping over the yummy thing – nice and greasy.
As there are maths times tables that people know by heart, in cooking people also follow some formulas. Spinach, for instance, is often combined with feta and salmon with cream cheese or capers. Do we follow such rules without questioning them because they are the best match or we are so accustomed to them that we simply can take a risk of, to say, mixing spinach with cream cheese? Whatever your answer is, more and more people are becoming adventurous with food theses days. On a Gordon’s TV show a few weeks ago , a grilled curry prawn dish served with chocolate dipping sauce got Gordon flying off the handle. What was wrong with the dish? It sounded alright to me. I’ve seen steak or chicken with chocolate sauce and apparently it is the most popular sauce in Mexico. So why not with prawn? I’m going to try prawns with chili chocolate sauce one day and prove Gordon wrong. *can’t wait*
You all must know by now how much I love using Lebanese bread in my cooking. It is just so so so convenient and versatile. It makes good substitutes for pizza base, pita bread, tortilla and naan. Especially, I often make kebabs by wrapping whatever I have in Lebanese bread for quick lunch – and I toast it with some cheese when I have enough time, and it is like eating pizza rolled up. The best thing about a kebab compared to a sandwich is that you can fit more in and feel like you are eating two sandwiches.
A new item that has been enjoyed by many visitors to my place is this. Ta tah~~
Spinach Feta Gozleme with Lebanese Bread
So should I call it Lebanese Gozleme?
So easy, hassle free, and SO YUMMY!
Excellent as party finger food or appetiser or tapas
Version 1:
1. Saute silverbeet or English spinach and garlic with a little bit of butter, white wine and salt&pepper-silverbeet preferred
2. Divide Lebanese bread into two layers by pulling carefully along the edge.
3. Spread cooked silverbeet and feta over the first layer and sprinkle a bit of mozzarella cheese and place the other layer on top
4. Heat a frypan without oil and toast til crispy.
Version 2:
1. Do the same as 1,2
3. Spread some hummus over the second layer – it makes Gozleme thicker and moist ,and gives middle eastern flavour
4. the same
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