Sunday, 17 August 2008
Friday, 15 August 2008
pumpkin and leek risotto
D’s youngest brother came to dinner last night. Since their parents have been away, all he’s been eating is frozen dinners and takeout, because the only thing he claims to be able to cook is enchiladas, and he has run out of corn tortillas. Unfortunately, he hates mushrooms, so at the last minute I had to revise my original dinner plan and replace it with a pumpkin and leek risotto, which I served with a spinach and sundried tomato pasta salad, and garlic bread.
I don’t know how N felt about it all, but I’m really happy with how the risotto turned out.
pumpkin and leek risotto
Boiling the pumpkin and then frying in a frypan makes the pumpkin soft but crispy. This is also an awesome way to prepare pumpkin for pizzas. If your preference is for roasting instead, feel free, but it will add a little bit to the overall cooking time.
ingredients
one pumpkin (in small cubes)
sage
a shake or three of ground nutmeg
pinch of thyme
two cups arborio rice
five cups stock
half red onion
one leek (white part only)
one clove garlic (minced)
method
Boil the pumpkin until almost cooked, then fry in a fry pan for five or six minutes.
Dice the onion, and in a heavy bottomed pot sauté for about ten minutes, or until caramelised. Cut the leek into lengths of about five centimetres by five millimetres, and add the leek and garlic to the pot. Saute, add the rice, sage, thyme and nutmeg. Stir the onion mixture through the rice until covered, then add a cup of stock. Continue stirring the rice, allowing the stock to soak in before adding another cup.
I think fresh sage would be awesome with this, but I didn’t have any so I used ground, about a teaspoon worth. The amount used may vary.
After ten minutes, or about two cups, add the pumpkin to the rice. Continue to add the stock until the rice is soft, but with a slight resistance when bitten.
I don’t know how N felt about it all, but I’m really happy with how the risotto turned out.
pumpkin and leek risotto
Boiling the pumpkin and then frying in a frypan makes the pumpkin soft but crispy. This is also an awesome way to prepare pumpkin for pizzas. If your preference is for roasting instead, feel free, but it will add a little bit to the overall cooking time.
ingredients
one pumpkin (in small cubes)
sage
a shake or three of ground nutmeg
pinch of thyme
two cups arborio rice
five cups stock
half red onion
one leek (white part only)
one clove garlic (minced)
method
Boil the pumpkin until almost cooked, then fry in a fry pan for five or six minutes.
Dice the onion, and in a heavy bottomed pot sauté for about ten minutes, or until caramelised. Cut the leek into lengths of about five centimetres by five millimetres, and add the leek and garlic to the pot. Saute, add the rice, sage, thyme and nutmeg. Stir the onion mixture through the rice until covered, then add a cup of stock. Continue stirring the rice, allowing the stock to soak in before adding another cup.
I think fresh sage would be awesome with this, but I didn’t have any so I used ground, about a teaspoon worth. The amount used may vary.
After ten minutes, or about two cups, add the pumpkin to the rice. Continue to add the stock until the rice is soft, but with a slight resistance when bitten.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
pumpkin, sweet potato and spinach triangles
I love puff pastry. Pumpkin, sweet potato and spinach are all delicious, but wrapped in puff pastry they are nomlicious. I arrived home on Tuesday, bored and tired thanks to my Industrial Ecology lecture, and D was spooning the mixture into the puff pastry and covering the kitchen in oil, it was a great way to come home, especially as the kitchen started to fill with the smell of baking pastry.
Of course the fact that this recipe was created by D is why it uses frozen spinach. I am just disclaimering!
pumpkin, sweet potato and spinach triangles
ingredients
one sweet potato
one half small butternut pumpkin
one packet of frozen spinach
three large sheets of puff pastry
rosemary
sage
poppy seeds
oil to brush
method
Boil and mash sweet potato and pumpkin. Soften/warm up the spinach, combine with the sweet potato and pumpkin, and add rosemary and sage to taste. We used dried herbs, but fresh would work fine.
Cut each sheet into quarters. Spoon approximately two tablespoons of mixture into one corner of each square. 'Approximately' because my heaped tablespoon might be heaped much higher than yours, so use your judgment. Fold corner to corner and seal and crimp with a fork (on both sides). Brush both sides with oil, shake some poppy seeds on top. Bake for about 30 minutes at 190C.
NOM.
Of course the fact that this recipe was created by D is why it uses frozen spinach. I am just disclaimering!
pumpkin, sweet potato and spinach triangles
ingredients
one sweet potato
one half small butternut pumpkin
one packet of frozen spinach
three large sheets of puff pastry
rosemary
sage
poppy seeds
oil to brush
method
Boil and mash sweet potato and pumpkin. Soften/warm up the spinach, combine with the sweet potato and pumpkin, and add rosemary and sage to taste. We used dried herbs, but fresh would work fine.
Cut each sheet into quarters. Spoon approximately two tablespoons of mixture into one corner of each square. 'Approximately' because my heaped tablespoon might be heaped much higher than yours, so use your judgment. Fold corner to corner and seal and crimp with a fork (on both sides). Brush both sides with oil, shake some poppy seeds on top. Bake for about 30 minutes at 190C.
NOM.
Thursday, 7 August 2008
talking about things to eat
It's IBARW this week. I don't talk about racism in this blog, because this blog is just about food. However this blog is specifically about how being Chinese-Anglo by way of SEA and living in Australia impacts my veganism and vice versa, and I'd like to take a moment to talk about food, ethnicity and language.
talking about things to eat
(or: how the words people use to describe food make me feel like a freak)
Growing up as a child, I was familiar with roasts and pasta and pizza and sausage rolls and all sorts of different foods, but almost always when I went home we'd be eating the sorts of things my mother ate as a child, Malaysian and Chinese and Indian, for the most part. We used to eat noodles all the time, and I was ten before I found out not everyone ate rice several times a day. I used to go to the Chinese butcher where I'd peer at whole animals and feet and things, but I know that not everyone grew up this way. I know that this is cultural and it is social and yeah, it has a bit to do with being Chinese from Malaysia.
When we first went vegetarian, the problems this caused for my family and the problems it caused for D's family were quite different.
Feeding us at regular family dinners was not a problem for my mother. Chinese cuisine considers meat as just another ingredient, so altering noodles, curries, and other dishes was as simple as exchanging one ingredient for another. Our meals remained mostly the same. My mother didn't blink at the shift to veganism – about 90% of people of Asian descent are lactose intolerant, so we've never been big dairy consumers – though the loss of eggs threw her for a bit. The real intellectual problem came at holiday events, where dishes become less about tradition (which I tend to view as alterable) and more about superstition – I don't eat fish anymore, so how can I court abundance? I don't eat duck, so how can I show prosperity?
Compare this then to D's family, who eat mostly European/English dishes. For D's mother, feeding us was problematic. We were served a whole lot of dishes made primarily of cheese, and Christmas was a meal of boiled vegetables and cauliflower cheese (note to all who have dinner parties at Christmas: this does not count as a meal). The shift to veganism completely petrified D's grandmother, who literally couldn't think of a single dish to serve us that wasn't a garden salad. So this situation is impacting them differently, but they're trying to think outside what is familiar to them, outside their squares, and they're trying new recipes which I think is worrying them, these unfamiliar paths.
It's interesting, the ways in which we think of food. People have such different backgrounds, and such different habits and histories, but we get used to these things and that's reflected in the ways we think about food. Chinese cooking places so much emphasis on a tiny bit of this, a tiny bit of that, but all elements are essential, and so my mother said to me once, "How can you be Chinese if you don't eat meat?" just the same as I believe she would have asked how I could be Chinese if I didn't eat vegetables, or mushrooms, or rice. Over the years I've become more familiar with English/European food, but it seems so much more focused on the big hunks of things, and so D's family's reaction was (and for some of them, still is) more along the lines of, "But what can you eat?"
I read Jay Rayner's attempt at a week of veganism, where he suggests that "ethnic is the default position for the vegan." I bet he uses 'exotic' ingredients in his cooking, too. I have an ethnicity; we all have ethnicities: the fact that the food I grew up with is easier to veganise than the stuff he ate as a child doesn't make me 'ethnic,' it makes me Chinese. Using these words trivializes the decision I have made to be vegan, and it others my family and my whole freaking life, because using words like that aren't just saying that I'm 'different,' they're saying that I'm 'other.' And he is not alone in this, many people are guilty of this all the time. That you're trying something you've never before heard of doesn't make it 'exotic,' it makes it new to you. And you definitely don't get to describe it as exotic if you're talking about it on the internet - there's a good chance it's not new to your readers. Just because the things I did as a child are different doesn't make me special, and I certainly don't want to feel like a freak. And I realise it's just semantics but semantics are important, because they indicate attitudes - so really, it's not that I have a problem with the word 'exotic,' it's that I have a problem with the attitude that leads to its use, that the food I eat is 'not normal,' that it is other, that I am other.
A guy I know can't pronounce char kuay teow, he always calls it 'koi char' and he thinks that's hysterical. So he can't pronounce the name of a dish that I've been eating since I was little, growing up in the same country as he did, because it's made up of words he's never been bothered learning. Why is that funny? If anything, it's a little sad for him – I can pronounce everything that he eats. If it's anything else, it's a reflection of his privilege, and it's racist – it's different so it's funny. And it makes me feel like a freak, and it makes me hate him.
My food is not exotic because it's different from your food, it's just my food. And it's not ethnic because that doesn't mean what you think it means. I have enough trouble trying to work out how to incorporate the old food superstitions into my life as it is: I don't need to feel like some sort of foreign novelty whilst I'm doing it. So do me a favour and mind your language.
(With thanks to J + L for reviewing this for me)
talking about things to eat
(or: how the words people use to describe food make me feel like a freak)
Growing up as a child, I was familiar with roasts and pasta and pizza and sausage rolls and all sorts of different foods, but almost always when I went home we'd be eating the sorts of things my mother ate as a child, Malaysian and Chinese and Indian, for the most part. We used to eat noodles all the time, and I was ten before I found out not everyone ate rice several times a day. I used to go to the Chinese butcher where I'd peer at whole animals and feet and things, but I know that not everyone grew up this way. I know that this is cultural and it is social and yeah, it has a bit to do with being Chinese from Malaysia.
When we first went vegetarian, the problems this caused for my family and the problems it caused for D's family were quite different.
Feeding us at regular family dinners was not a problem for my mother. Chinese cuisine considers meat as just another ingredient, so altering noodles, curries, and other dishes was as simple as exchanging one ingredient for another. Our meals remained mostly the same. My mother didn't blink at the shift to veganism – about 90% of people of Asian descent are lactose intolerant, so we've never been big dairy consumers – though the loss of eggs threw her for a bit. The real intellectual problem came at holiday events, where dishes become less about tradition (which I tend to view as alterable) and more about superstition – I don't eat fish anymore, so how can I court abundance? I don't eat duck, so how can I show prosperity?
Compare this then to D's family, who eat mostly European/English dishes. For D's mother, feeding us was problematic. We were served a whole lot of dishes made primarily of cheese, and Christmas was a meal of boiled vegetables and cauliflower cheese (note to all who have dinner parties at Christmas: this does not count as a meal). The shift to veganism completely petrified D's grandmother, who literally couldn't think of a single dish to serve us that wasn't a garden salad. So this situation is impacting them differently, but they're trying to think outside what is familiar to them, outside their squares, and they're trying new recipes which I think is worrying them, these unfamiliar paths.
It's interesting, the ways in which we think of food. People have such different backgrounds, and such different habits and histories, but we get used to these things and that's reflected in the ways we think about food. Chinese cooking places so much emphasis on a tiny bit of this, a tiny bit of that, but all elements are essential, and so my mother said to me once, "How can you be Chinese if you don't eat meat?" just the same as I believe she would have asked how I could be Chinese if I didn't eat vegetables, or mushrooms, or rice. Over the years I've become more familiar with English/European food, but it seems so much more focused on the big hunks of things, and so D's family's reaction was (and for some of them, still is) more along the lines of, "But what can you eat?"
I read Jay Rayner's attempt at a week of veganism, where he suggests that "ethnic is the default position for the vegan." I bet he uses 'exotic' ingredients in his cooking, too. I have an ethnicity; we all have ethnicities: the fact that the food I grew up with is easier to veganise than the stuff he ate as a child doesn't make me 'ethnic,' it makes me Chinese. Using these words trivializes the decision I have made to be vegan, and it others my family and my whole freaking life, because using words like that aren't just saying that I'm 'different,' they're saying that I'm 'other.' And he is not alone in this, many people are guilty of this all the time. That you're trying something you've never before heard of doesn't make it 'exotic,' it makes it new to you. And you definitely don't get to describe it as exotic if you're talking about it on the internet - there's a good chance it's not new to your readers. Just because the things I did as a child are different doesn't make me special, and I certainly don't want to feel like a freak. And I realise it's just semantics but semantics are important, because they indicate attitudes - so really, it's not that I have a problem with the word 'exotic,' it's that I have a problem with the attitude that leads to its use, that the food I eat is 'not normal,' that it is other, that I am other.
A guy I know can't pronounce char kuay teow, he always calls it 'koi char' and he thinks that's hysterical. So he can't pronounce the name of a dish that I've been eating since I was little, growing up in the same country as he did, because it's made up of words he's never been bothered learning. Why is that funny? If anything, it's a little sad for him – I can pronounce everything that he eats. If it's anything else, it's a reflection of his privilege, and it's racist – it's different so it's funny. And it makes me feel like a freak, and it makes me hate him.
My food is not exotic because it's different from your food, it's just my food. And it's not ethnic because that doesn't mean what you think it means. I have enough trouble trying to work out how to incorporate the old food superstitions into my life as it is: I don't need to feel like some sort of foreign novelty whilst I'm doing it. So do me a favour and mind your language.
(With thanks to J + L for reviewing this for me)
Friday, 1 August 2008
potato rendang
Although a thick, spicy rendang has been one of my favourite dishes for much of my life, I have never before cooked it from scratch. For years I have used a packet sauce, because I have long been concerned that I would fail to get the consistency right. Rendang is a dish popular in Malaysia and Singapore, and although I think it originated in Indonesia it will always be a dish that always makes me think of Malaysia.
I was feeling quite a lot of trepidation going into this, worried that there was some essential animal-based element that was going to cause a failure on my part. My memories of rendang are so tied up with meat things, and I was concerned by the texture first, and the flavour second, and I was pretty sure that the end result would be "a thing, not rendang."
I describe it as ‘spicy,’ but in this instance I don’t mean hot, I mean thick with spices. Four tablespoons of chilli flakes sounds like a lot, but given the coconut milk it renders down to add delicious chilli flavour with very little bite.
Cooking it with potato is a bit odd; I suspect that seitan would work better, as it would allow the juices to soak in more effectively (and more in the way of beef), but it was still really tasty, and evoked the memories of that first bite, the odd combination of rich coconut and red chilli and my hands, covered in brown sauce. And it still tasted like rendang, and I'm so pleased.
potato rendang
This dish will take some time, like a curry. I have this terrible habit of using a wok for the rendang, but it would probably work better in a heavy-bottomed pot.
ingredients
five potatoes (sliced into short fingers)
two tablespoons of lemon juice
half cup of stock
400ml(ish) coconut milk
three or four lime kaffir leaves
paste ingredients
one shallot
2 cloves garlic
ginger
four tablespoons dried chilli flakes
half tablespoon ground cumin
tablespoon coriander seeds
shake of ground cloves
short length of lemon grass
method
Pound together the paste ingredients. Dry fry until fragrant, add the coconut milk, simmer for ten minutes. Add the potatoes, continue simmering with the lid on for thirty minutes. Mix the stock, lemon juice and extra chilli flakes if required, and add, along with the lime kaffir. Continue to simmer with the lid off until the liquid has reduced and the potatoes are tender.
Serve with roti or rice, but this would work best with lontong.
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
asian food fair, fremantle
On Sunday we ventured down to the Asian Food Fair held on the Fremantle Esplanade. The fair was to raise funds for people aiding in Burma, organised by the Buddhist Society of WA.
One of the things I love about a lot of Asian food is the way we categorise it. The fair advertised that vegetarian and non-vegetarian food would be available. 'Non-vegetarian' is not a term you see so much in Western restaurants, but you see it a fair bit especially in Indian restaurants. I love it because 'vegetarian and non-vegetarian' usually indicates there's some thought that's gone into the vegetarian food, and I have made this choice to not eat animal products but it's nice to have some choice in my food, too, which often people don't understand. I was at a workshop yesterday and seeing if there was anything I could eat (yes, I had told them in advance) and there was one thing on the menu that was probably vegan. I commented "at least there's one thing" and the guy I was with said, well, that's your choice. Which fills me with rage, like because I make this choice I should have to not eat delicious food?
Anyway, there was lots of vegetarian and vegan food at the food fair. The line for the dosai was sadly very long, so although I could smell it as we wandered past we walked on by, I will make it up to myself by going for dosai sometime soon. D and I shared a fairly average miscellaneous Indian curries and rice (it was a bit cold), and some mee goreng when the Buddhists ran out of char kuay teow.
When I have been away too long, I forget things, and the look the guy gave me when I asked if there were eggs in it and he said, no, it's strict vegetarian was a moment of oh, of course, how embarrassing for me.
We took home some mock chicken rice, which D and I fought over for breakfast (we both ate it), and some bacheng, which we have yet to eat but which will hopefully be delicious. The chicken rice was a great way to start the day, and also had some char siu which was a surprise delight, and I wish I could buy it more regularly.
The great thing about Chinese cakes is that they are often vegan by default, made only of flours and nuts and things, but I wasn't in the mood and D doesn't like them, so sadly we passed those by.
One of the things I love about a lot of Asian food is the way we categorise it. The fair advertised that vegetarian and non-vegetarian food would be available. 'Non-vegetarian' is not a term you see so much in Western restaurants, but you see it a fair bit especially in Indian restaurants. I love it because 'vegetarian and non-vegetarian' usually indicates there's some thought that's gone into the vegetarian food, and I have made this choice to not eat animal products but it's nice to have some choice in my food, too, which often people don't understand. I was at a workshop yesterday and seeing if there was anything I could eat (yes, I had told them in advance) and there was one thing on the menu that was probably vegan. I commented "at least there's one thing" and the guy I was with said, well, that's your choice. Which fills me with rage, like because I make this choice I should have to not eat delicious food?
Anyway, there was lots of vegetarian and vegan food at the food fair. The line for the dosai was sadly very long, so although I could smell it as we wandered past we walked on by, I will make it up to myself by going for dosai sometime soon. D and I shared a fairly average miscellaneous Indian curries and rice (it was a bit cold), and some mee goreng when the Buddhists ran out of char kuay teow.
When I have been away too long, I forget things, and the look the guy gave me when I asked if there were eggs in it and he said, no, it's strict vegetarian was a moment of oh, of course, how embarrassing for me.
We took home some mock chicken rice, which D and I fought over for breakfast (we both ate it), and some bacheng, which we have yet to eat but which will hopefully be delicious. The chicken rice was a great way to start the day, and also had some char siu which was a surprise delight, and I wish I could buy it more regularly.
The great thing about Chinese cakes is that they are often vegan by default, made only of flours and nuts and things, but I wasn't in the mood and D doesn't like them, so sadly we passed those by.
Thursday, 17 July 2008
zapata's mexican restaurant, fremantle
As part of my current obsession with Mexican restaurants, last week we went to Zapata’s in Fremantle.
The menu is fairly extensive, and though I found my portion size to be a little on the small side the prices do reflect that, so next time I’ll probably order something a little more expensive. M ordered the fajitas, for example, which are among the more expensive items on the menu and he was unable to finish his meal (though he really wanted to).
The spicy was spicy, but my enchilada was soft and delicious and everyone (all ten of us) enjoyed their meals, and I will definitely be going back. On Tuesdays they do cheap tacos and cocktails, I understand, and everything that we wanted vegan came out vegan.
They are able to do separate billing if you let them know before you order. I can't remember how they were for gluten-free options.
Zapata's Mexican Restaurant
Shop 30, South Terrace Piazza
Fremantle
(opposite Gelare, above the Pickled Fairy)
Friday, 11 July 2008
namaste indian restaurant
My family loves talking about food, and I am no exception to this. We love talking about restaurants we’ve visited since last we spoke, food we’ve bought and food we’ve made and it’s such an important part of our lives.
My parents like to talk about this Indian restaurant, it’s tiny and rarely very busy. The chef is an accountant by day, and a chef by night. His three children wander about the restaurant working as waitstaff. My mum says to him, you would get more business if you advertised at all! but he protests. He likes it this way, it’s a hobby. He catered for my father’s birthday this year, and when my parents didn’t visit for three weeks the chef started to fret, assumed that we must have been disappointed.
Last night we visited and drastically over ordered. We ordered a mixed vegetable curry, a palak aloo and a chana masala (I thought of you, SJ). My parents also ordered some meaty dishes, hence the over ordering. We had some breads, too: the roti was a bit whatever, but my sister liked the naan and the chana came with bhatura, which our waiter described as naan bread that’s been covered in oil and fried instead of baked tandoor. It was so tasty, really great, it was kind of like a donut and so oily and crisp. After I got home I googled for a bit, and I’m now concerned that it might have had yoghurt (some recipes do, some recipes don’t), so my recommendation for the bhatura is cautious due to that, but I’ll ask next time and we’ll see. I didn’t think to ask this time because he described it as naan batter.
The palak aloo was also pretty fantastic, combining two of my favourite things (potatoes and spinach) into one creamy, tasty dish.
The service is very laidback (the chef's son argued with me about both what time we'd booked and how many we'd booked for in a very 'whatever' sort of way), but it is very fast, and they're super helpful and friendly.
Namaste Indian Restaurant
1/305 Great Eastern Hwy
Midland
My parents like to talk about this Indian restaurant, it’s tiny and rarely very busy. The chef is an accountant by day, and a chef by night. His three children wander about the restaurant working as waitstaff. My mum says to him, you would get more business if you advertised at all! but he protests. He likes it this way, it’s a hobby. He catered for my father’s birthday this year, and when my parents didn’t visit for three weeks the chef started to fret, assumed that we must have been disappointed.
Last night we visited and drastically over ordered. We ordered a mixed vegetable curry, a palak aloo and a chana masala (I thought of you, SJ). My parents also ordered some meaty dishes, hence the over ordering. We had some breads, too: the roti was a bit whatever, but my sister liked the naan and the chana came with bhatura, which our waiter described as naan bread that’s been covered in oil and fried instead of baked tandoor. It was so tasty, really great, it was kind of like a donut and so oily and crisp. After I got home I googled for a bit, and I’m now concerned that it might have had yoghurt (some recipes do, some recipes don’t), so my recommendation for the bhatura is cautious due to that, but I’ll ask next time and we’ll see. I didn’t think to ask this time because he described it as naan batter.
The palak aloo was also pretty fantastic, combining two of my favourite things (potatoes and spinach) into one creamy, tasty dish.
The service is very laidback (the chef's son argued with me about both what time we'd booked and how many we'd booked for in a very 'whatever' sort of way), but it is very fast, and they're super helpful and friendly.
Namaste Indian Restaurant
1/305 Great Eastern Hwy
Midland
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
homemade birthday food
It was my birthday recently.
On Friday D’s mum tried some new things, a green split pea soup and a kumara peanut coconut thing. I saw her recipe books lying around but I forgot to note down which ones they were, so I can’t tell you where these were from. The peanut thing was really tasty. This doesn't mean that the soup wasn't tasty also (I know that she will read this and fret)! But the peanut thing was the highlight.
On Sunday my mum cooked a whole lot of my favourite food, a sweet pumpkin curry, a chunky dahl (filled with vegetables) and pad thai. Not pictured: delicious, flaky roti. For dessert we had a fruit salad filled with my favourite fruits, watermelon, papaya, banana, lychee, orange, mangosteen. Not exactly fruits that are in season, but fruits I love a lot. If only there was also rambutan! We also had some lime sorbet and some mango sorbet from a local store. The lime had this delightful, tart taste, I really liked it.
Then we played mahjong, and I felt really lucky to be fed all this food and then able to play my favourite game (which is played at birthdays, weddings, etc, so appropriate to the day).
On Friday D’s mum tried some new things, a green split pea soup and a kumara peanut coconut thing. I saw her recipe books lying around but I forgot to note down which ones they were, so I can’t tell you where these were from. The peanut thing was really tasty. This doesn't mean that the soup wasn't tasty also (I know that she will read this and fret)! But the peanut thing was the highlight.
On Sunday my mum cooked a whole lot of my favourite food, a sweet pumpkin curry, a chunky dahl (filled with vegetables) and pad thai. Not pictured: delicious, flaky roti. For dessert we had a fruit salad filled with my favourite fruits, watermelon, papaya, banana, lychee, orange, mangosteen. Not exactly fruits that are in season, but fruits I love a lot. If only there was also rambutan! We also had some lime sorbet and some mango sorbet from a local store. The lime had this delightful, tart taste, I really liked it.
Then we played mahjong, and I felt really lucky to be fed all this food and then able to play my favourite game (which is played at birthdays, weddings, etc, so appropriate to the day).
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
apple danish
Since the success of last week’s pastry-based experiment, I’ve been thinking about the other delicious things I can make with puff pastry. After many days of deliberation, I decided the number one priority was to try making apple danishes, a treat that I have long missed.
apple danish
This recipe is fast and simple, and quite possibly going to be a great new addition to dessert times at dinner parties.
ingredients
2 green apples
nuttlex
¼ tsp cinnamon powder
Shake or two of ground nutmeg
1/8 cup of brown sugar
1 or 2 large squares of puff pastry
method
Peel and dice the apples. I like to use Granny Smiths for baking and desserts (though not for fruit salad). Melt a tablespoon or two of margarine in a pot, add the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar. Allow to simmer for fifteen minutes. The apples should be soft, but should retain their shape. Remove the pot from the heat, and leave to cool.
Cut the puff pastry in to four squares. Depending on how much mixture you like to use and how big the apples are, you will need between four to eight squares. Spoon the apple mixture into the centre of each square, I think two or three tablespoons is about right. Fold two opposite corners to meet in the middle over the apple mixture, press to seal. Brush with melted margarine.
Bake at 220C for 15 to 20 minutes. Eat hot, but remember that apple mixture burns! I always learn that one the hard (but delicious) way.
Sunday, 29 June 2008
that little mexican place, north perth
I've yet to find a review of That Little Mexican Place that is mediocre: it's either described as fantastic or quite terrible. As a result, I was prepared to be disappointed, and I was prepared to be contented.
Although the service can only be described as 'odd,' with our waiter taking away our shared entree (guacamole and blue corn chips) before we had quite finished all the chips, and a waitress dropping by to ask how our meal was and to tell me I was weird because I had yet to finish my drink, the meals were quite tasty and the restaurant was warm and interesting. I liked the decor, and little things like the great glasses and the fake candles (complete with flickering light). D and I both had the tamales de frijol negro, and the four of us shared the guacamole and blue corn chips, after I was assured that the guacamole was sans dairy. The tamales were a bit dry, but the beans were tasty and slightly creamy and the rice was quite excellent, so mixed all together it made for an ugly but delicious meal. They are also listed on the menu as 'can be made vegan,' apparently the only difference is the cream that is usually placed on the top to make it look pretty.
Having been assured that the meal was completely vegan, and receiving the bill which said '2 x tamales - vegan,' I'm willing to believe that the white stuff on top of the beans was vegan (as seen in this picture above), but it did look quite a lot like goat's cheese, so we erred on the side of caution, scooped it aside and continued on. We are unsure, but it's certainly a point of question mark from this visit.
Juices of the day were hibiscus and tamarind. The hibiscus was sort of like ribena, so much so that Andy insisted on calling it such all evening, to the irritation of our waiter, and I was surprised and pleased by the flavour of the tamarind, which I have never drunk as a juice before.
The restaurant is tiny, making the seating a bit cramped, and the meals took quite some time to arrive, and the service was, as I mentioned, a little odd. I do also wish that the menu was a little more vegan-friendly, though what we had was very good, and our waiter knew what he was talking about when we had questions (both vegan and non vegan, and also gluten-free) about the food. But the food was quite tasty and I loved the juice, the menu is clearly labelled with gf and veg, and overall it was worth the visit. I might go back in the future, I might not, we'll see if the menu develops and how visits to other Mexican restaurants pan out (next week I hope to try Zapata's in Fremantle).
That Little Mexican Place
382 Fitzgerald Street
North Perth
Thursday, 26 June 2008
sausages inna bun
We've been lamenting the loss of puff pastry, of sausage rolls and jaffle pies and savoury pastries and other things that are provided at work meetings that are completely inedible by us, covered as they are in cheese and usually filled with meat. Yesterday this came to a head as I sat in a morning meeting, surrounded by people munching away on cheese and tomato pastries and sausage rolls (sausage rolls are compulsory at all meetings at my place of employment, even at 0930).
I spent the day thinking of things that we could roll in puff pastry, mashed pumpkin and potato and similar, and I googled for vegan sausage roll mixture recipes, but in the end it was D who came up with this simple and tasty method.
A quick trip to the Woolworths on Murray Street after work saw me equipped with a packet of Sanitarium traditional vegie sausages and a packet of Borg's puff pastry (on the package it says suitable for vegans, but I checked anyway) (also suitable for ASSIMILATION OMG). I used a quarter of a sheet per sausage, and rolled and tucked the excess under the sausage, which formed the base. This gave me six little piggies in blankets, which I baked for 20 minutes at 180C.
During baking, I and my lovely assistant D mashed sweet potatoes, fried some mushrooms and sliced some avocado. The entire process took about half an hour, with a lot of that just sitting around waiting for the buzzer to go off. It was quick and easy, and biting into the little sausages in buns left puff pastry flaking everywhere and the familiar taste of sausage rolls in my mouth. So I declare this experiment a success!
I find that the secret to making quick and simple foods really awesome is the stuff you add, the little extras like the five minutes to fry mushrooms in a little nuttelex and olive oil.
little chutney's, subiaco (part two)
I’ve blogged about visiting Little Chutney’s before, but breakfasts are quite different from dinners in Perth, and it was with delight that I discovered that Little Chutney’s breakfast menu features a masala dosa.
Sunday morning breakfast with The Breakfast Club is usually a leisurely affair, meeting at 0900 by which point I’m famished and any service seems to take a lifetime. So when I say the service is sometimes tardy, perhaps I’m being harsh, but having been there for dinner a few times, I suspect it’s not just my desperation that finds the speed of service sub-optimal.
However if I am to be truthful, for Little Chutney’s to meet my verdict of excellent breakfast, all they need to do is provide me with the masala dosa, the dosa crisp and the potatoes flavoursome, with the onions starting to caramelize and the rasam tart and spicy. And breakfast dosa at Little Chutney’s is all of these things, an excellent way to start the day.
The breakfast menu indicates gluten-free dishes, which is nice, and features fusion dishes (not vegan) for your friends who don’t understand that curry is one of the best breakfasts you can have (these friends are wrong).
The cost for morning beverages is about average, and the dosa is $12.50 which is fairly reasonable for a filling breakfast.
The dosa does also come with a little dish filled with a creamy thing, I always forget to order the dosa without it, but as far as I know that is not vegan.
Little Chutney's
67 Rokeby Rd
Subiaco
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
back blog: orgran lemon and poppy seed cake mix
We moved house, so cooking has been a bit light on, and although there has been quite a lot of take out, there haven't been a lot of photos. Instead, I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about Orgran's lemon and poppyseed cake mix. We were at an engagement party recently, where we were delighted to find little "vegan" signs on every thing that was vegan-friendly. These cupcakes were soft and delightful, and we later discovered that our friends were assisted in the provision of cupcakes by Orgran.
These were baked by non-vegans who are sometimes confused by the process, so I'm going to remember this for the future, for when people say, "I would have baked it vegan but I got confused!" The really great thing about these cupcakes though, is obviously the presentation: love heart shaped cupcakes just look really great! I have been inspired to buy an awesome new tray of my own, just as soon as I get my kitchen back in order.
Sunday, 15 June 2008
white chocolate and berry cupcakes
Most of my sunday evening cupcakes tend to be quite similar to one another, just requiring a few modifications here and there. This recipe for white chocolate and berry cupcakes is no different, it is quite simple and offers a cupcake with a mild flavour with occasional bites of tart fruit and soft chocolate, which is the way it should be.
white chocolate and berry cupcakes
ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
50g melted nuttlex
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup soy milk
a small block of chocolate (about 100g), broken into pieces
1/2 cup drained berries
method:
Sift together the flour and baking powder, add the sugar and mix. Add in the vanilla essence, the nuttlex, applesauce and soy milk. Combine and stir in the chocolate pieces. When well combined, add the berries and stir only to combine. Do not over mix, particularly if using canned berries.
Divide into twelve cupcakes. The batter will be quite gooey.
Bake for 15 minutes at 180C.
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