Nasi Goreng

This past week has been one of bad weather. I don’t usually dislike the rain- infact, I slightly enjoy splashing and I love the sound of rain pitter-pattering on my umbrella, or on the roof of our house as I’m snuggling into my warm, comfy bed.

But let’s just say that dark gloomy skies and sudden bursts of rain just don't go well with a long, boring day at uni. Especially when you’ve stayed up very late studying for a test the next morning and are so tired you could fall asleep straight away. And when you’ve got two very blocked noses which stubbornly refuse to let any air in no matter how much sniffing you do (here’s an interesting fact for you- trying to fall asleep whilst only breathing with your mouth is, well, close to impossible).

To be honest, I'd much rather stay in bed until the sun comes out again.



This is not to say that the past week has been a terribly depressing one for me. Infact, it's been quite a good week, especially after visiting UNSW for the first time to visit my friends, who I haven't seen for ages- and deciding that I like my uni better ;) And I got back two assignments which I was sure I'd failed but didn't end up doing too bad in. It's a shame they didn't count more- it means I still have to study for the end of semester exams :)

So in the spirit of all things bright and happy, here's a nasi goreng (indonesian fried rice) I attempted to make. I love nasi goreng not just because of the deliciously flavoursome fried rice which is so different to the chinese style fried rice, but also because of the bright, sunny-side-up egg on top, which I break into the steaming hot rice to let it cook further. I guess I was feeling a little too ambitious when I was making this and started adding lots of strange ingredients, which I won't tell you about. Otherwise I might sound like a complete idiot.

But hey- it didn't taste too bad!

Below is the original recipe which I had intended to follow.....

Nasi Goreng
Recipe from this cookbook

2 eggs
30ml/2tbsp water
105ml/7tbsp oil
225g pork or beef fillet
114g peeled cooked prawns
175-225g cooked chicken, finely chopped
2 fresh red chillis, halved and seeded
1cm cube shrimp paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, roughly chopped
675g/6 cups cold cooked long grain rice
30ml/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1. Put the eggs in a bowl and beat in the water, with salt and peper to taste. Using a non-stick frying pan, make two or three omlettes, using as little oil as possible for greasing. Roll up each omlette and cut in strips when cold. Set aside. Place the strips of pork or beed in a bowl. Put the prawns and chopped chicken in separate bowls. Shred one of the chillies and reserve it.
2. Put the shrimp paste in a food processor. Add the ramining chilli, the garlic and the onion. Process to a fine paste. Alternatively, pound the mixture in a mortar, using a pestle.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a wok and fry the paste, without browning, until it gives off a rich, spicy aroma. Add the pork or beef and toss over the heat to seal in the juices, then cook for 2 minutes more, stirring constantly.
4. Add the prawns, and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Finally stir in the chicken, cold rice, dark soy sauce or ketchup and seasoning to taste. Reheat the rice fully, stirring all the time to keep the rice light and fluffy and prevent it from sticking to the base of the pan.
5. Spoon into indiviudal dishes and arrange the omlette strips and reserved chilli on top. Garnish with the deep-fried onions and coriander sprigs.

$5 dining in Sydney

Ever since I discovered cheap lunches near my uni, I've been eating out relatively often, and I have quite a few restaurant I need to blog about now! A couple of months ago, the Sydney Morning Herald had coupons for $5 dining deals in Sydney, I couldn't resist trying them out! So here I present you with the cheapest of all the lunches I've had so far this year (in Sydney)!

Home

Chicken Pad Thai- $5 (normally $8.90 on the lunch menu)

My first trip was to Home, though I had no idea where it was and ended up taking a lengthy walk down Sussex street. To be honest, I was expecting some cheap food court like place- afterall, the coupon was offering a pad thai for $5! So I was surprised when we arrived to find a really nice restaurant which was already packed but we were lucky enough to get a small table straight away and had our order quickly taken by the waitress....with an ipad!!

The prices on the menu itself were also pretty low, and there were many items on the menu I'd love to come back to try. I salivated over the satay skewers and the beef salad the table next to us had ordered, and wowed at the beautiful dish served in banana blossom that we saw taken from the kitchen.

My Pad Thai was equally as tempting, with its beautiful presentation and its taste did not dissappoint either! I would have liked it a little sweeter, but I do like my pad thai's to be very sweet, but I still loved these noodles!
Malacca Straits


Deep Fried Tofu with Minced Chicken- $5

I've walked past the Malacca Straits sign many times when walking down Broadway and after reading about it on many food blogs, I was looking forward to trying it out. We arrive quite early (as we usually do), to find the restaurant empty, but luckily, open. It could really do with an open/closed sign ;)

The coupon for this restaurant was a for a fried hand-made silken tofu with minced chicken dish. It's something I wouldn't have ordered if I'd seen it on the menu, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The dish arrived so hot and steaming that I couldn't manage to take a picture without the lends fogging up (hence the ugly picture!). The tofu was deliciously unique- it was extremely soft and silky though not to the point that it didn't feel like tofu and had a distinct tofu taste. It tastes a lot better than the packaged tofu we usually buy from Asian supermarkets! The sauce and the vegetables were a great accompaniment, but I didn't notice the chicken mince until we'd almost finished the dish!

Garlic Prawn Stir Fry $11

After deciding we didn't want chicken (since the above tofu dish already featured it), we decided on seafood as the best alternative, since it was nothing like chicken, and settles for the garlic prawns. A generous serving of prawns, accompanied with a selection of vegetables nicely stir fried with plenty of garlic, there was nothing not to like about this. I however, found it a little ordinary- I guess was expecting something a little different, after reading some interesting dishes on food blogs. Oh well- I guess I'll have to try out other dishes another time!

La Casa Pasta

Spaghetti Bolognese- $5
Lured by the promise of a $6 pasta, I decided to take my friends to try out La Casa Pasta. Though the website showed various locations, we arrived at each only to find they were no longer in business, and ended up taking the long walk down Glebe Point road to find this store- which looked more like a take away shop than restaurant, but we'd made it so far, we went in anyway.

The pasta turned out to be $5, which was even better though just judging by the looks of the place, we weren't really expecting that much. We ordered anyway (and paid at the table....which I found quite strange) and waited. And then we saw a cockroach on our table......

My friends ordered a spaghetti bolognese which was okay, though the pasta was a little soft and it was not really flavoursome enough.


Primavera ravioli- $5
My primavera ravioli was a little better in terms of taste- the primavera sauce was not too bad, and more flavoursome than the spaghetti bolognese with its hint of garlic and herbs. The ravioli however, was definitely overcooked and was much too soft- my friend thought it tasted like a dumpling ;)

Mini Sable Viennois

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my cooking/baking adventures this year, it would be that I am still a very bad multi-tasker. To make up for the weekends where I don’t bake anything as a result of an assignment/test, or because we’ve run out of milk or eggs or some other important ingredient, I usually end up making many things in one day.

Most of the time, it ends up in disaster.

I attempted to make these cookies following a cookie craving, thanks to Shirley's beautiful pictures and delicious description of these :) I've never actually made cookies like these before, because I'd always known they would have a really high butter content- I generally avoid recipes with a lot of butter ;) But these looked too good not to make, and they were quick too so I made them....whilst I was making lunch.

It should have only taken me a couple of minutes to whip up and bake- but being the cookie noob I am, I didn't realise that the mixture would be too thick to pipe through a plastic bag (I don't have a proper piping bag...) and so, of course, the mixture broke the bag before it got through the nozzle. I also forgot that I didn't have a big nozzle, so I ended up making mini cookies with my cookie press but gave up quickly because rolling them into balls was so much faster :)

In the end, I accidentally left these in the oven too long as I was trying making lunch whilst they were baking. Then I forgot to add flavouring to my lunch, so I ended up with the blandest noodle omlette ....woops? :D But the cookies were so good! They were light and crispy just as I'd imagined them to be. The recipe doesn't make a very big batch, and I found it pretty difficult not the to eat the whole batch up in one go ;) Next time, I'll definitely doubling the recipe!

Pierre Herme's Sable Viennois
from directly from Kokken69

95g Unsalted Butter
1g Fleur de Sel
1/8 tsp Vanilla paste (the recipe originally asked for 2-3 pinches of Vanilla powder)
40g Powdered Sugar
15g Egg White
115g All purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk unsalte butter with Fleur de Sel until creamy.
3. Add in powdered sugar and whisk until homogenous and creamy.
4. Add in egg white. (The mixture may curdle a little but it will smoothen out after flour is added)
5. Add in flour and mix until well combined.
6. Scoop batter into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe circles/wreaths on a lined baking tray.
7. Bake at 180C for 10 -12 mins or until golden brown.
8. Cool down and store in air tight container.