February 27, 2009
How embarrassing! I have been back in Australia for a month and I still haven’t finished telling you all about my holiday. My laziness is especially bad as this breakfast that I am about to tell you about was a revelation.
We had been in Penang for a few days and were dealing with that age old no-plan travelling dilemma: should we stay here in this town that we like and eat some more, or do we leave early to spend more time at our next destination, but we don’t know if we will enjoy it as much. So many unknowns! We took a chance and booked bus tickets so we would have 3 days in Malacca.
I had read about this great ramshackle breakfast spot which happened to be right near our guest house, so on our last day in Penang we breakfasted here. And right away we wished we hadn’t bought tickets south, I wanted at least one more breakfast here.
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February 26, 2009
I have been experimenting with eggplant for ages. Looking for a way to recreate silky, tender dishes enjoyed in restaurants without copious amounts of oil. Up until now I have failed, miserably. Greasy, burned, crunchy, tasteless, I tell you, raw eggplant is pretty unpleasant.
So I gave up, until I found this recipe. Finally, some delicious eggplant success!
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February 24, 2009
Dinner had been organised for weeks. Uni friends, Mamak, a sumptuous feast. Easy, right? Yeah, until someone double booked themselves. No worries, we would postpone until Monday, Monday should be a good day to visit Mamak, you know, people still getting over their weekend, lines will be shorter and all that. Then Monday rolls around and our numbers are again dwindling. Members of our party are dropping away like flies, until there are only three stalwarts left. But we are excited, and I have a hunger only roti can satiate, and besides, Mamak will be better with only three.
Kari Kambing – Spicy Lamb Curry, $14
Kangkung Belacan $12
It looks as though everyone else seems to have caught on to the Monday trick too. The line is long, even at 6:30pm, but soon enough we are seated, and ordered. The Kari Kambing is a flavourful and tender, spicy lamb curry, comforting but not mindblowing. The Kangkung Belacan is well cooked, but much milder with less fishy belacan than I have eaten her previously. This dish is nice, but I wanted a bigger chilli hit.
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February 21, 2009
I am a very, very lucky food blogger, but I have been negligent with spoils of my luck, and for that I apologise, sorry! Months ago (months!) I was fortunate enough to win a prize from Nicky of the beautiful blog Delicious Days by identifying the rose apple/wax jambu. The prize? Delicious Days, the cookbook.
A few weeks later the package arrived all the way from Munich. I rabidly ripped the package open and flipped through the pages of this fun, funky, well-designed cookbook, my attention grabbed by the engagingly beautiful photography, and recipes that made my mouth water and stomach rumble.
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February 20, 2009
Spring onions. Tender and crunchy with a spicy bite, I see them all the time in Banh Mi, Peking Duck, stir fries, salads and pancakes. Or do I? The naming of this versatile vegetable is probably one of the most confusing, we all seem to call it a different name, often incorrectly. I grew up knowing it interchangeably as Spring Onions and Shallots, and using them when the recipe called for Green Onions or Scallions. So, what is the difference?
Well they are all members of the Allium family, and in Australia (or at least New South Wales):
Shallots, Schallots, Eschallots are smaller than an onion with a papery shell, often bronze or golden coloured. They are sweeter and milder than a brown onion and are often used whole in stews or finely diced and used raw. Green Shallots refer to Spring Onions.
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