Caramelised Eggplant with Miso

1 large eggplant

1/2 cup grapeseed oil

1/3 cup red or white miso (red is stronger)

1/4 cup mirin

2 tablespoons Sake

pince of sechuan powder

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp finely shopped shallots for garnish

Chop eggplant into small chunks, fry in pan till golden brown and smelling good. Meanwhile, mix all other ingredients except garnish and pour into fry pan. Cook slowly over low heat for as long as you can. Or you can transfer to a crock pot. Hide and eat all to yourself.

“Chicken” Parmigiana

There is a terrible ad on tv at the moment about how ‘you used to only be able to get a good parmie at the pub’ blah blah blah but now you can get a frozen one from the supermarket etc (which I’m sure Italian grandmothers everywhere are calling to complain about).

The reason it is a pub staple is that its dead simple.

1 Fry’s veg “Chicken” Schnitzel per person
Can of crushed tomatoes or pasta sauce
cheese slices

Oven preheated to 200 celsius.
Place frozen schnitzels on oven tray.
Just cover top of schnitzel with crushed tomatoes or pasta sauce (don’t let them swim in it or you won’t get any crunchy schnitzel bits which would be a tragedy)
Layer cheese slices on top.
Bake til cheese is golden and bubbly.

Serve on bed of rocket/baby spinach with steamed peas and steamed baby potatoes. Whack on some cracked pepper & a some torn parsley or basil if you’ve got some hanging around your kitchen.

(If you were to make this with real chicken, in the interest of not getting salmonella I would suggest pan frying the schnitzels first…or baking for longer…or whatever people do to cook chicken properly. Please refer to an omnivore for advice.)

Malaysian steamed buns…sans bun.

This recipe was found in a veg cookbook under “pre-dinner finger food”. Pfft. I took one look at the recipe and knew that those poor little buns were never going to be made by me. Ever. This baby was being elevated from pre-dinner to main course.

I am not one for buggerising around with super refined flour and steaming apparatuses when I can skip right to the good stuff and just make a big pot of the delicious filling to scoop onto rice. Rice wins because it gets poured into a rice cooker and forgotten about. Buns lose.*

Filling:

oil (sesame is good, but whatever goes)

500g shiitake mushrooms chopped

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 tsp ginger crushed

3 tbsp smooth peanut butter

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

bunch of coriander, finely chopped (use the whole thing, discard roots)

Method: chuck everything in pan on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring. The. End. Serve with rice and sprinkle reserved coriander over top. Everyone loves coriander sprinkled on top of stuff**. If they don’t, politely ask them to leave.

*buns win, of course, when being made by someone else. Feel free to make this in buns for me.

**Actually not true. Broad sweeping statement for what is essentially a litmus test for dining companions. Perhaps best discussed before serving dish composed of almost half coriander…

Rotis (flat bread)

These are simple and delicious.  Rotis are,  in my opinion, the least complicated and bestest tasing of all southeast asian breads. Forget your naan’s and chapatis, rotis are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with a lovely sweet coconut flavour. Make a couple of these bad boys to go with your home made curry feast and you will have lots of  “ohhh you made these yourself?” and similar backhanded compliments.  Trust me, when it comes to a good indian/sri lankan meal, flat breads are the icing on the cake … so heres the recipe

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup of dessicated coconut

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of  water

ghee or vegetable oil for cooking

mix the flour coconut and salt in a bowl and then add the water slowly to form a soft dough.

Kneed the dough until it forms a ball that doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. (if it’s sticking to your hands and making you cranky, take a breath count to 10 and dust a little flour on your hands and on the outside of your dough ball)

Cover the bowl and let the dough sit for half an hour.  (don’t worry too much about the time, this dough is very forgiving,  i’ve forgotten about the dough before and left it sitting for 3 hours and it still made good rotis)

When you’re ready to roll, form the dough into 6-8 small balls.  Sprinkle flour generously over a flat surface and using a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a circle about the size of a small plate.

Heat the a heavy based frying pan or griddle untill it is really really hot. heat a teaspoon of ghee or oil in the pan and use a spatula to flip the roti in the pan so that it’s covered on both sides with the ghee/oil. fry one roti at a time until both sides are crisp (it won’t take long on a high heat so don’t wander off). After each roti is cooked you will have to re-oil the pan.

Hint: You will want to serve these babie HOT, so i like to prepare the dough early, then while the dough is sitting, get my curries and rice and other foods going. Once you have around 5 minutes of curry/rice cooking left start rolling and cooking your rotis. It’s a simple act of timing but it’s nice being able to serve each element of your meal nice and hot.

x

Broccoli love salad

…or “how to get people to eat a whole lightly steamed broccoli without noticing”. This salad is awesome. Essentially it’s just broccoli, pasta, greens, topped with yum. Would be perfect to take to a bbq. We just ate big bowls of it. Maybe could do with some nuts? You tell me.

You’ll need;

1 big head of broccoli

2 matchbox sized pieces of cheese (Nimbin Natural preferably), grated

4 slices of diced fake bacon (seriously**)

1 teaspoon of garlic

bag of greens (I used half watercress + half rocket)

1/4 thinly sliced red onion

roughly two cups of cooked pasta (just chuck a handful of some small pasta in a pot)

Dressing needs:

Juice of one lemon

slug of olive oil

teaspoon of dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes

salt + pepper

pop the pasta on to cook.

chop up the broccoli into small florets (dice the stem up too) and place in  microwave dish with water + zap on high for 6 minutes. Should still have a bit of crunch. You could also dry fry the diced stem with the fake bacon for diff texture.

fry up fake bacon with some oil and garlic until crispy. set aside

grate the cheese + slice the onion.

whack all the cold ingredients in a big salad bowl. When pasta + broccoli have cooled down add them too. To cool them down quicker drain the hot water and cover them with cool water for a while. Drain + add to bowl.

Mix everything up.

To make the dressing grab a little empty jar and add all ingredients. Screw lid on and shake. Alternatively chuck ingredients into a small water glass and mix with a teaspoon. Pour over salad + mix.
Eat.

Yum.

**use fake bacon! apart from the woes of animal fat, did you know, at med school,  we practice our suturing and burr hole techniques on pigs? Sad but it’s because they’re the most anatomically similar to humans. Pig heart valves are even used for human replacement as a pig heart is most similar to a human heart. They’re also really smart. And how cute was Babe? Violin? No? Well, try to avoid eating your heart-brothers + sisters for this salad. This is a love-salad. Fake bacon. Fakon. Try it.

The art of feasts

I live for feasts. Birthday feasts, holiday feasts, no reason-midweek feasts.  I think you do to. First there is the inherited inability to cook in small quantities. Then the need to do four hundred dishes instead of a restrained two or three. The the joy found in picking a theme, researching recipes, shopping for ingredients, polishing cutlery + wine glasses, bringing out fresh tablecloths, planning the cooking to stretch out over a fews days prior so that on the day of the feast only a few minor things need doing + the evening can begin smoothly with wine, music + delicious aromas. Stress has no place at a feast.

Lastly there is the divine satisfying pleasure when the chatter dies down + there is comfortable silence as people chew, flavours explode + smiles start to form before the “dis ishh shhhooo goood” comments start flowing.

Thus, on thursday afternoon I found myself frying a whole packet of poppadoms leisurely + smiling to myself thinking…

Goddamn I love feasts.

Chana Masala

I used to buy packet chana masala from the indian wholesale in the valley. All I had to do was dump a few cans of chickpea into the pan with the packet and some water. It was so easy…and it totally felt like cheating. So I’m taking the high road this time. For my feast tomorrow night I’m doing your sukhe alu, palak paneer, tandoori tofu + a properly made chana masala (…er, with a spice mix this time…instead of a paste packet…totally a step up). One of the things I love about chickpea dishes is the preparation involved. You need to soak them overnight or during the day while you’re at work/uni. At least 8 hours of them hanging out in a bowl.

Everytime I walk past them I get that little twinge of impatience, wanting to start cooking them straight away.

But good things come to those that wait.

So I’m waiting…

Recipe coming soon.

You have to wait too…

Greek-esque

Next time you’re at home have a look at one of mum’s really huge  cookbooks: “Complete Mediterranean Cookbook” by Tess Mallos. It’ll blow your mind. The Turkish + Greek sections are fabulous. Wednesday night for us was a midweek random meze of whatever was in the fridge, some of which when into the oven to roast + the rest just chucked on a plate;

Really lemony hummus + greek yoghurt mixed together with heaps of cracked pepper

Lettuce + cucumber salad

Roasted cauliflower sprinkled with ‘greek seasoning’

Roasted shallots

Roasted sweet chilli*

Dolmades (slice in half + sprinkle with cinnamon  before heating in oven or quickly in microwave)

Kalamata olives

All on a plate  with some + devoured.

*I had these in the fridge from earlier in the week. It’s the kind of thing you want to do in big batches + bottle. Buy a whole bunch of long red sweet chilli or capsicum (I just go with whatever is cheaper at the markets because once roasted they taste the same). Place whole under griller until skins blacken (usually 5 mins). Turn over + grill until other side blackens. Remove + place in plastic bag or cover with tea towel + let cool. The steam helps the skin loosen. When cool simply peel off the blackened skin. It should come away really easily. Scoop seeds out + place in the roasted flesh in a jar + cover with oil. So simple & at $35.00 a kilo from the deli, it’s somethi worthwhile doing yourself.

Bread + Butter

If you’re ever passing through the Gold Coast on your way home, on a lazy wednesday night, make sure you detour off the highway at Tugan + follow the old highway off to Kirra for a $10 pizza at Bread + Butter. I think they’re about $15 – $20 normally. Seriously good stuff.

http://www.breadnbutter.com.au/

76 Musgrave Street, Kirra

(07) 5599 4666

Sukhe Alu (Dry Potato Curry)

POSTED BY LITTLE BROTHER

I have been really getting into all things spicy and south east asian lately and this is one of my favourtie new dishes. Goes well as a side dish to compliment any indian meal or by itself with some rice or on a piece of toast for breaky (better than vegemite). I got this from mum’s old Charmaine Solomon cookbook, which has loads of good stuff in it.

all you really need to make this scrumptious dish are the following ingredients:

500g of potatoes peeled and cut into quarters or small 5x5cm chunks

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons of Ghee (you can use oil but ghee is sooooo much better, go get some from any indian store as it is a must in indian cuisine)

1 teaspoon of panch phora -  a mix of whole spices (another handy indian ingredient)

1 teaspon of ground tumeric

1 teaspon of garam masala

1 1/2 teaspons of salt

1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder (more or less depending on how hot you like your curries)

1/3 of a cup of hot water

1 table spoon of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint or coriander (if you dont have fresh stuff dried chopped coriander will do fine)

Begin by heating ghee in a saucepan, when hot sprinkle in the panch phora. Stir the seeds around so that they dont burn, when they start to brown add onion and fry on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until onions are a light golden brown.

Now add the chopped herbs, tumeric, salt and chilli powder, also add the potatoes and stir well for a couple of minutes. Gently pour the hot water into the saucepan. cover the saucepan and cook on a low heat for 20 minutes (make sure to shake the saucepan every couple of minutes to stop the potatoes sticking to the pan).

After 20 minutes open the lid, sprinkle in the Garam masala and the lemon juice, stir quickly and replace lid for another 10 minutes of cooking (remember to shake pan occasionally). When the 10 minutes is up your curry is ready to go. Tastes great with yogurt and chapatis and compliments any indian feast you plan on making for your friends ….or your handsome and charming younger brother