Cookbook Challenge (Rice/Noodles) - Chicken Briyani

3rd Cookbook Challenge theme is rice or noodle. I kept pestering Mr. to pick a recipe from the pile of cookbooks I owned. In then end, he chosen a dish which I had cooked and even wrote before. Does it still considered a challenge??

This time, I did follow the recipe pretty strictly. Included all the herbs even though knowing Mr don't like them. I did went through the end product and try picking all the herbs out.

As usual, I didn't use any tomato puree. I used a lot more tomatoes instead.


I didn't colour the rice and still wondering why the rice turned out brown.


Maybe because the shallots were burned?


Every time I cook, I spend ages in preparation. Just like baking, I like to wash all the ingredients and chopped them up, placed them into individual bowl/plate, placed them all next to the stove before turning on the heat. Totally opposite from Mr.


This time I managed to shot more photos during the cooking process.


Frying ginger, garlic and chillies. I added red chillies this time to more it more spicy.


Waiting for the tomatoes to break down. It did take a while.


With the chicken pieces added in.


I did have it in on the stove for a while to thicken the gravy. Knowing Mr. loves the gravy, I did increased the liquid ingredients amount.


Frying ginger and garlic for the rice.


Added in the pre-prepared shallots.


With all the herbs and rice without liquid


Liquid added in. I cooked the rice on the stove instead of rice cooker. I had never done that before. No idea what trigger me to give it a try. Lucky it turned out fine.

Cookbook Challenge (Citrus) - My Mother-In-Law's Madeira Cake

I should be working on my 3rd or 4th cookbook challenge but I'm so disorganise that I only manage to finish the 2nd challenge. But it's better to be late than never right? Hopefully I can catch up, work on the 3rd challenge next week and 4th the week after. Wish me luck!

The theme for the 2nd challenge is Citrus. I love this theme because I jus simply love lemon and lime. Do you know I can actually eat fresh lemon and I enjoy it. Especially when having fish and chips, I can squeeze the juice onto the fish, peel away the skin and eat the pulps away.

For this challenge, I chosen My Mother-In-Law's Madeira Cake by Nigella Lawson How To Be a Domestic Goddness. I'm visiting a ex-colleague tomorrow and felt this will be a great gift. Not nice to turn up empty handed.

I added more lemon and poppyseed into the basic recipe. So it can also be consider as Lemon Poppyseed cake. I have never came across poppyseed till I stayed in Aust. Bought a pack of poppyseed and kept it the pantry but never managed to use it till now. Poppyseed is actually banned in Singapore, I had never seen it available. In fact, a SG blog which I followed experienced Central Narcotics Bureau knocking on her door and confiscated all her poppyseed. Is it really necessary? It's for own consumption anyway.



Did a taste test just now when it had cooled. Smell lemony but find it a bit dry. Quite crunchy on the outside. Taste a bit like pound cake, guessing due to the amount of butter used.





My Mother-In-Law's Madeira Cake


240g softened unsalted butter
200g caster sugar , plus extra for sprinkling
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 large eggs
210g self raising flour
90g plain flour
23 x 13 x 7cm loaf tin, buttered and lined


Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar, and add the lemon seat.
Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of flour for each.
Then gently mix in the rest of the flour and,finally, the lemon juice.
Sprinkle with caster sugar (about 2 tablespoons) as it goes into the oven, and bake for 1 hour. (mine was done before 1 hour)
Remove to a wire rack, and let it cool in the tin before turning out.


Variation:
For lemon poppyseed cake, add the juice of another half lemon and a tablespoon or two poppyseeds. I added two tablespoons.

Three Bags Full

Three Bags Full
60 Nicholson Street
Abbotsford VIC 3067

We visited Three Bag Full on Melbourne Cup day after our monthly marketing at Victoria Market. During the visit, we were seated directly under a huge painting and behind the painting lies a story. Apparently the owner discovered a really old 1930's Melbourne Cup tipping graffiti on the wall during renovation and I was amazed that it was very well preserved. We even had the honour of viewing it.

As usual we started off by satisfying our caffeine addiction. They definitely served good coffee.



Mr. and me both aren't coffee drinker till we walked passed Jasper coffee at Fitzroy on Brunswick Street few years ago. The strong and fragrant coffee smell actually attracted us to walk in and purchased a cup of mocha. We enjoyed the coffee so much that we ended up buying some coffee beans, a stovetop espresso maker, a electric milk frother to whip the milk and a thermal mug. It was full on from then and no turning back. We are so spoiled till unless we know it's going to be good coffee if not we won't even bother paying to get some.

Mr. had the Egg Benedict with Smoked Salmon. The eggs were poached to our liking and the hollandaise sauce was very different from the others. It's not overpowering and doesn't feel sick when had it too much.



As for me, I had the Ricotta Hot Cake with Poached Pears, Berries and Rhubard. It was my 1st time having ricotta hot cake and also rhubard! It's also a dish I wouldn't create in my own kitchen because I'm not confidence to. Not knowing what to expect, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Did felt there was too much ricotta cheese and left some aside. But guess that's just me not having the habit of taking much cheese.



Did noticed the crowd started streaming in even though it was a great day for sleeping in! It didn't take long for all the seats to get occupied.

We are starting to adventure into breakfast and hope we can cover more new cafes this new year.

Papaya Pog Pog

Papaya Pog Pog

12b Balmoral Ave

Springvale 3171

Papaya Pog Pog is our current favourite Thai restaurant. I discovered this place quite some time ago on Kat's blog and took up the recommendation and gave it a try. Next thing we know, both of us fell in love with the food they served. It the only Thai place we visit for the past months when we have craving for spicy, sour, sweet Thai food.

Yesterday we bought another 2 friends, R and K with us to Papaya Pog Pog. More people = more tummy space = more variety of food :P

Started the dinner with Thai Fishcake. Not very sure is it homemade or store bought but all of us enjoyed it. It actually tasted very similar to Otah which available in Singapore/Malaysia.

R being visiting different parts of Thailand for the past years for vacation. I ended up asking her whether she find the food served original. Although I being to Thailand twice but that's almost 10 years ago. Honestly speaking I can't remember what authentic Thai food taste like. But she actually find them very authentic. 

R even attended Thai cooking lesson on her most recent trip and bought back a cookbook with her. We are still trying to organise a time slot and try cooking Thai food in my kitchen. 

It was my 1st time trying the Vegetable Green Curry. **Sorry for the blur photo

This curry wasn't very spicy but I was rather surprise by the sweetness. R told me it's suppose to be sweet. I don't recall finding green curry sweet at other Thai restaurant. It's very appetising  and nice to go with white rice. Plus there's a huge variety of different vegetable in this dish.

Thai Fried Rice, Chicken smell so fragrant. All 4 of us can smell it once it's being served on the table. This dish is definitely fried using a very hot wok because you can actually taste the "wok hey".

We also ordered Fried Quail which was very crispy and still juicy on the inside. I can even chew on the bones that's how crispy it was.

Tom Yum Soup which we ordered medium spicy. It's spicy, sour and full of flavour. Love it! It's a must have on every visit. At the bottom of the bowl, I always find lots of coriander roots

Another must have is Pad Grapow. We usually ordered pork but yesterday we had chicken. It's a very simple dish but Papaya Pog Pog did it perfectly, full of flavour. Mr. and me always order a serve each so that we won't fight over it. I did try creating this dish at home but there's always something missing. Maybe because my stove fire wasn't big enough.

  Individual served of Pad Grapow

The last dish was Nard Nar which we discovered during our last visit. A dish which is very similar to Hor Fun but taste very different. It's another dish which you can taste the 'wok hey'.



All of us also had a Ice Coffee each. The coffee is a killer! It's strong but not too sweet.



We all enjoyed the dinner a lot and we definitely over estimated our tummy space as we almost couldn't finish all the food ordered. Almost rolled out of the restaurant after the meal.



The other dish which Mr. and I tried during one of our visit was Pad Thai. But we find this dish  a bit disappointing. It was too dry to our liking and too oily. Or  was it suppose to be dry??? Or maybe I should give it another try just incase it was a miss previously? Should I??

Guest Writer Reviewing LuxBite

Yes. It's Mister doing this blog entry.

After these years of blogging and the amount of food we had eaten, this is my 1st entry in wifey's blog. I am doing it because i have encounter something special...it's call Luxbite.

Before i start, be warn: this is my 2 cent review of the food from LuxBite. It's honest, genuine and it's how i feel everytime i had their desserts.



It all started with wifey's twittering...' l wanna go try this dessert place called LuxBite'






So one fine sunday, we went to Luxbite and fell deeply and madly in love with the macarons...and the every desserts they make!



First up, we had the FerreRoll Rocher and 3 macarons, Kaya Toast, Watermelon Yoghurt and Raspberry & White Chocolate. The ferreroll rocher was soft, great texture and fulls of nuts and flavour. Compared to burnetti's cakes Luxbite's win hands down. The cake's flavour was perfectly persevered and not overly spongy , likely due to Luxbite's storing and fridging of their cakes.

Honestly, l haven't tasted a macaron prior to LuxBite's although l do come across them before. Luxbite had a huge variety of macarons on offer...too many for us to try on 1st go. so, we got another 8 to go..that was how good it was.

 

Luxbite's variety of macarons got us hooked and wanting to try all of them. Their macarons, take for watermelon one tasted just like watermelon! It's amazing that the taste can be so preserved in such a condition. i am never a fruity taste person as l often opt for stronger tastes such as chocolate, vanilla in whatever l eat (l am such boring and old style foodie)

But LuxBite's fruit macarons (such as passionfruit, rose & lychee, blue berry, raspberry & white chocolate) are so refreshing, you wouldn't feel having 3 macarons by itself being too filling nor starchy. The macarons was not too chewy or hard, just right with an equal amount of the filling to match. A perfect dessert to end your already filled or empty stomach.

Do not be deceived if u think Luxbite's all about only macarons.


Carmel slice with a salted caramel macaron. thick caramel with nice coconut underneath.

Green Tea Cream Brulee. U gotta be really creative of think of this flavour! The brulee was well done with a fairly strong taste of green tea (wasn't too strong for us although we did read it wasn't for the faint-hearted!). The cream was very fluffy but firm thanks to the solid glass.





OK. THIS IS MY FAVOURITE: Mango TriLova! oh my god! i cannot describe how it actually tasted but it would do so much injustice to it! i begin such a mango-hater this actually got me hooked i had this 3 times already in a span of 1 month speaks volumes about it. You can distinctively taste the mango, macadamia nut and the fresh coriander in there and it all so well compliment one another. What a superb dessert it was!



The apple crumble. Definitely separate from the type of apple crumble u eat outside..this crumble is without a hard crust but make up with lotsa crumble and apple.



Our latest was the mango cheesecake. The cheese-cake is really fluffy and that mint added added another level of taste testing your palate. This combination make this cheese-cake so refreshing to have..so unlike those that make you bloat at the end..this tasted guilt-free...seriously!



Ok..this 4 maracons is the Australia day's special. Kudos for thinking of such filling, vegemite, rocky road, caramel and chocolate freckles ....the level of creatively by Yen and Bernard, the mind behind LuxBite (besides happy!) is so amazing..however though we think the vegemite tasted slightly funny..maybe it's weird to have vegemite macaron?? Out of so many macarons, vegemite comes last for us..not sure what you all think? rocky road caught us by surprise! It got the most refreshing taste of the 4.

Nevertheless you get to appreciate the level of creativity LuxBite offers. Their dedication to decorating the place, storing of their macarons and cakes to the nice container for their macarons, speaks volumes about them trying it make their macarons and cakes a great experience. it is hard to find such high end quality hand made desserts in Melbourne.

Luxbite is now truly my favourite place to satisfy my craving for desserts compared to my older favourite 'The Dessert house' in Boxhill....l wouldn't mind driving that 45mins...it will be worthwhile in the end and so is this blog entry.

Cheers,
Chee

Pineapple Tarts Revisit

Wow looking thru the blog entry, I already had 2 entries about CNY goodies, pineapple tarts.
Twice in 2008 and once last year. But I didn't make any in 2009, too lazy and trying to control my diet. Well it didn't really works isn't it?

This year is no surprise, I baked a very small quantity compared to last few years. But the number of pineapple I used was actually the most! How did that happen? *scratch head*

For the pineapple jam, I'm back to the traditional granting method, drained it on a sift and follow by cooking it on the stove. When I did it on friday night, the end product was so little that I was shocked. I can't even produce 30 pineapple tarts with that amount. Is it because the pineapple I chosen were too ripe?

The next morning, I went pineapple shopping again. This time round I ended up with another 2 pineapples which looked ripe but they were not when I cut into them. But they were more easier to grant and produced more.



I wasn't required to stand in front of the stove stirring for a long period this time round because each batch of pineapple jam wasn't big quantity. As for the jam, I only added raw sugar when it's almost ready. That's how Granny, Aunt and Mummy used to do it.

From memory, Aunt's recipe for the pastry is 1:1 ratio of flour and planta (Malaysia margarine) with a few tsps of water to bring everything together. I haven't being using planta for years! Anyone know is it available in Melbourne?

This time, I'm trying The Little Teochew's recipe. The only different I made to the recipe was the amount of icing sugar. I used 4 tbsp instead of her 6 tbsp as I'm afraid it will end up too sweet.



I'm very happy with the end result. Mr. loved it. It's not too sweet overall, jam cooked till dry enough and the base is "melt in the mouth" pastry which I'm being hunting! I will definitely make it for my family if I got the chance. I always specially made them for my sister who's a pineapple tart lover like me when I was still staying at home.

Gaswork Farmers Market and St Ali

This weekend was a weekend well spent! 1st stop, Gaswork Farmers Market. I heard about it but never being there. Since we running low on fresh food, decided to pop in and take a look.

Find that Gaswork Farmers Market is very different from Nunawading Whitehorse Road Farmers Market. Gaswork space area is a lot bigger, more variety of different stuff. Looks like the stall holders are totally different too. Thought it will be almost the same and stall holders just go around to different location each week.

Anyway we did mange to get quite a bit of food : eggs, baby carrot, white radish, tomatoes, cucumber, Australian garlic <3, 2kg bag of royal blue potatoes (used for last night mash potato, yum!!), 1kg of cherries (used for cookbook challenge), 2 pack of steak (nice) and also 3 bags of dried fruits.



After marketing, both of us were hungry and Mr asked where should we go for breakfast. I suggested St Ali since we were already in that area. We never being there but I heard about it very often and was 1 of the place I always wanted to try. Lucky I had the address handy in my iphone.

We got there before 10am and there was already a queue. Mr. was surprised! He always thought only Asian will queue for food. Plus we had never actually queue for breakfast but we decided to wait hoping it won't be too long.
We were 4th in the line when we arrived but the couple in front of us decided to give up in less than 5 minutes and the 1st group was being served. Which means we were 2nd in the queue and got informed we should be able to get a table in 10-15mins. It wasn't long before my name got called :-)

We started off with coffee as usual. It was a good cup of coffee! Pretty too. Well St Ali is known for their coffee isn't it? I even got a pack of house blend, chompy for my stovetop. Coffee at home was running low as well. I haven't tried it yet, maybe tomorrow morning but it smell really fragrant.


Cappuccino

The breakfast menu was different from the usual cafe. We had a bit of difficulty deciding what to try. Mr. chose Poached eggs on sourdough, beetroot and red cabbage relish, smoked salmon, rocket and dukkah.



Mr. loves the combination while I love the beetroot and red cabbage relish. It's slight sour but very appetising. The poached eggs looked overcooked but once Mr. cut into it, I know it was actually cooked to our liking.



I decided to go for something sweet which is Sweet french toast with pepper spice rum, pineapple and coconut. I was craving for french toast and was glad I sticked to it even though I'm not keen on coconut. The french toast was crisp on the outside but very soft and fluffy on the inside! When I first saw the dish, I had doubt it will fill me up but I was definitely wrong! But it's so nice I could fitted in a 2nd serve :-p. But I find it too sweet for me but the pineapple does help to equalise the sweetness.

We definitely enjoy the breakfast but no idea when will be our next visit. Opps just realised I haven't write about Three Bag Full which we visited on Melbourne Cup Day and also Hardware Societe which we <3 <3 <3