H you've been busy!!! You so have to make your pork for me one day - I don't think it will taste nearly as nice if I made it ;)
Disappointing squid is the pits! I had really fabbo squid the other night at our favourite China Town restaurant Hawker's Cuisine(I have to take you there sometime). It's tucked away behind the dodgy Asian foodhall and because it's in China town is open to the wee small hours.
We wandered in about 9:30 and were seated almost straight away. Mr A and I take turns choosing dishes and this time was mine. We started with salt and pepper squid which is too too divine. It comes with the little fried spring onion and chilli bits (do you love those too?) and you get a nicely generous serve. Then we had a spinach, scrambled egg and anchovy dish that scared me off at first because it was quite wet, but this turned out to be lovely. With this we had one of their dishes that is really really popular (staff recommended) - Marmite Chicken. Marmite and chicken...WTF??? I know, I thought the same thing the first time, but what comes out is beautiful crispy pieces of boned chicken coated in a sweet brown stickiness. Oh it is so good. With rice and two giant mugs of tea $46 at the end seemed completely good value.
We've been here so many times since it was first discovered about 3 years ago and we are slowly making our way through the giant menu. They do some dishes that seem completely different (and I like to think of myself as reasonably well travelled in the foodie world) but I trust them implicitly. The very first time we went Mr A ordered the jellyfish salad that turned out to be a total winner and we've ordered it many times since. This restaurant rocks and you really have to check it.
After a long weekend of eating out (another highlight was Chinese BBQ on Saturday night - with spring onion sauce - and a fabulous lunch at Little Creatures on Sunday, and of course catching up with H for breakfast) I don't really have any cooking tales to share. I did make a Donna Hay vege curry yesterday and we had some for brekkie with cous cous. I know curry for brekkie is totally weird in Australia, but all those Indian folk are totally on to something. It is such a great start to the day and you can instantly tick off 2 of the 5 (or is it 7...) serves of veg. I cooked it up yesterday over a couple of beers and some tunes and when dished up with instant cous and a dollop of yoghurt its easy as pie to organise (much easier than pie if you ask me). The only thing I would change next time is the addition of some chilli and maybe a squeeze of lemon (or you could just serve it with lime pickle - my favourite).
Potato, Pea and Spinach Curry
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (other colors can be substituted)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
4 medium waxy potatoes (about 800gms), peeled and cut into chunks
1 can tomatoes, crushed
1¼ cups peas (frozen are fine)
6 fresh or dry curry leaves
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 bunch English or baby spinach
Heat the oil in a deep frying pan over a medium flame. Add the mustard seeds, cover and cook until the seeds begin to pop. Jiggle the pan on the burner occasionally to prevent the seeds from burning.
Add the onion, garlic, cumin and coriander and cook, uncovered, for about 1 minute. Add the potatoes and tomatoes and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally (NOTE: she says 7, but I made my potatoes chunky and like it when the taters are really soft so probably kept mine going for 15 minutes at this stage).
Add the peas, curry leaves and garam masala. Cook another 5 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Just before the dish is finished, add the spinach and cook for 1 to 2 minutes to wilt. Serve with steamed rice (or cous cous).
(Recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics: Book 1)
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