NOVEMBER 2015: Roasted Vegetable Soup

photoed by D. Liongson

It isn't everyday I eat eggplants, tomatoes, and chickpeas cooked together in one dish.

After eating one helping of this Roasted Vegetable Soup, it became an experience I look forward to when I return to The Cafe Mediterranean.

It is not the usual chopped fresh eggplants-tomatoes-chickpeas-tossed-in-hot-water combo. These veggies are grilled, blended, and served piping hot. It may take a discriminating tongue to identify the herbs and spices.  

Would I recognize every flavor added to the soup? Beats me.  All I know is... IT'S DELISH!

Lightly spiced, roasted flavor, pleasant texture in the mouth, a hint of salt, and shifts from hot-to-warm on time.

This is available in cup order or bowl order. I haven't tried the bowl version. It would help to ask the waiter what the size differences are.

If you order this soup and you have dietary restrictions, ask the waiter if this soup contains what you are forbidden to eat. On my end, the resto staff are friendly. If I received any rude dramas from them, it is certain I won't come back.  

Fortunately, I look forward to return.

The menu items they have are worth exploring. Preferences ranging from meat to veggies (or in between) can be found. If you try out all the items (agreeable to you) in the menu, you will discover what your favorite is.

The Cafe Mediterranean.  Try a branch nearest you!
--D.L.



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D' HAIKU

Slurping flavors of

eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas;

Roasted Veggie Soup.

--D.L.

OCTOBER 2015: Southeast Asian Quinoa Bowl (with Thai and Chinese influence)

photoed by A. Rajan

This is inspired by Thai style cooking, and Hakka style Chinese cooking. I just did fusion to experiment, and now I make this once a week.

Ingredients

---------------

1 1/2 cup quinoa

water

a stalk of lemon grass

1 tbsp oil

1/4 cup raw peanuts

half an inch piece of ginger, shredded

2 cloves of garlic, minced

a bunch of spring onions (whites to cook; greens to garnish)

1/4 cup green beans, julienned

1 cup cabbage, shredded

1 carrot, shredded (or julienned) 

1 bell pepper, diced

2-3 Thai green chillies

1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce or soya sauce

(If using hoisin, skip sugar. If not, add 1 tsp brown sugar)

salt (to taste)
black pepper, cracked (to taste)

Procedure

--------------

1) First, cook your quinoa in double quantity of water, with the lemon grass added to it. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Once done, you can separate the grains gently with a fork. Set aside. (The lemon grass will add nice flavor and fragrance to the quinoa.)

photoed by A. Rajan

2) In a pan, add oil and fry the raw peanuts. 

3) Keep the peanuts for garnish later. 

4) (In the same oil) saute your ginger, garlic, (whites of) spring onions, green beans, cabbage, carrot, and bell pepper. 

photoed by A. Rajan

5) Cook only so much that there will be still a little bite to it. 

6) Now add green chillies. 

7) Stir in little fish sauce and hoisin sauce. (If using soya sauce, add brown sugar at this stage.) 

8) Add the salt and the black pepper

9) Stir and then add cooked quinoa to this. 

10) Mix (greens of) spring onions and the peanuts. 

Your quinoa is ready. It is drool worthy and delicious!

--A.R.

SEPTEMBER 2015: Fish and Chips ala Wamba's

photoed by D. Liongson

I usually eat fish and chips with tartare sauce. After the overwhelm of the sauce's creamy effect and its sweetness from the sugar or corn syrup, I learned to settle for a squeeze from a wedge of lemon.

Wamba's Bistro served fish and chips that I appreciated. The effect of beer in the batter gives the fried fish a pleasant flavor to the tastebuds. I suppose there is no harm with cooking food with beer. Perhaps the bubbles in the beer pushed the cooking oil at a certain distance leaving the coating to a crisp.

There were condiments such as a wedge of lemon and a little sauce dish of vinegar. I love the effect of the well-salted fish and the lemon. Perhaps fans of the salt and vinegar potato chips would have a go eating the fish and chips with vinegar. It seems to slip from my memory if I tried the vinegar. But then if I had a choice of vinegar or lemon, lemon is usually high on my list.

Although I may be biased with preferring lacto ovo pesco vegetarian food, this resto may have specials and best-sellers that may ring bells with your food preferences. 

Wamba's Bistro belongs to a genre of Spanish/Basque food for casual dining and take out. 

May you enjoy your meal. I did! :-)

--D.L.

AUGUST 2015: Sheera

photoed by A. Rajan

Desserts makes my heart sing. Especially, if it is an Indian dessert called Sheera... I guess I can call it Semolina fudge. I remember every Marathi family from Maharashtra, had this as a staple offering to god during praying rituals. 

Recipe is very simple for this holy fudge. I like it better this way as it has milk and bananas as special ingredients instead of plain sugar water combo.

You will need:

------------------

1 cup of fine semolina or sooji

1 cup of ghee

1 cup of sugar

a few cardamom seeds, finely ground

2 cups of milk

Golden raisins, slivered almonds as garnish (if you like)

1 banana

Procedure:

--------------

1)You would heat the ghee first and roast the semolina until it becomes golden and specks of white dots disappear from semolina. 

2)Then, you can mash or cut the banana and add it into milk and sugar mixture. 

3)Add that mixture to the roasted semolina and keep stirring it till you see the ghee is separating on the edges. 

4)Add the cardamom powder at this stage along with slivered almonds and raisins. 

5)Keep stirring. It ensures that mixture won't burn or stick to the pot. 

Sheera is ready. Hope you will like it as much as I do.

Bon Appetit!

--A.R.

JULY 2015: Crispy Noodles with Seafood

photoed by D. Liongson

At Pho Vietnam, I noticed this resto serves food that pleases the sight and the appetite.

My favorite order is the Crispy Noodles with Seafood. There are other choices for the crispy noodles option: 1)with chicken, or 2)with combination (probably that's chicken and seafood).

My mouth had indulged in crunchy noodles, succulent seafood, tender crisp vegetables, and subtle broth; served warm enough so as not to burn the mouth. 

But just to be safe, have a bite of the shrimp to check if the warmth is just right or if there is a need to wait for the meal to cool down a bit.

Once this dish is served on the table, it is usually in time to "dig in". This would apply when eating at solo mode. But eating with other people, it's more appropriate to wait till all the orders are served; then, totally dig in!

I haven't tried adding extra sauce for flavor. I'm happy with the subtle and natural flavors of the broth, noodles, vegetables, and seafood. It slipped my mind to check if they offer sauces ranging from mild to hot. To those who like adding extra flavor, it may help to see if there are other sauces available before deciding to dine in.

If you are in Southport QLD and in the mood for a movie and a festive lunch, have a go with Pho Vietnam of Australia Fair after your cinema session in Event Cinemas. The resto and the movie place are next door neighbors. ;-)

Whether you come solo or as a group, it's all good!
--D.L. 

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D' HAIKU

Meal that pleased my sight:
Crispy Noodles with Seafood; 
tummy satisfied.
--D.L.

JUNE 2015: Dal

photoed by A. Rajan

You may understand the value of the home cooked comfort food when you go on a vacation. 

So anyway, we went for this awesome Canadian rockies holiday and there I got to sample variety of delicious food. But what you cook and are used to, start dancing on your palate... of course, it's all in the mind.

So, I love my Dal & Rice combination with a generous drizzle of clarified butter or ghee on top of that. It's incredibly nutritious and full of protein.

I cook mostly mung bean dal or lentils (yellow in color). It is easy to digest and it's an excellent meal, according to Ayurveda.

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow mung beans or lentils

Few chopped green chillies 
--(I used four. I like to have little zing...)

--(One can use less or omit it.)

1 chopped tomato

Salt to taste

Tbsp of oil

Half a tsp of black mustard seeds

2 cloves mashed garlic

Half tsp of turmeric

Pinch of Asafoetida powder (hing)

Handful of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Procedure:

Wash the beans two three times and then, 

Soak the beans in double or more water. 

Cook the beans till it gets mushy and done. 

Now, add chopped green chillies and chopped tomato.

Add salt to this and let it cook together. 

Now take a little oil in a small pan and once the oil is hot.

Add mustard seeds, mashed garlic and asafoetida powder. 

Let the mustard seeds crackle, and let the garlic become     
     golden, and temper your Dal with this.

Immediately close the lid in which Dal is being cooked, so   

     that the fragrance of tempering doesn't escape and 

     marries into the dal; making it flavorful.

Once done, just garnish the Dal with chopped cilantro.

I eat this with plain white rice and drizzle of ghee and a wedge of lemon on the side. This is my simple Dal. One can add onions or veggies and experiment, as they like. I prefer it simply like this, and I enjoy it nonetheless. 

Slurp! :-)

--A.R.

MAY 2015: Burrito Enchilada - Barramundi

photoed by D. Liongson

Mexican food at its finest!  GYG! (Guzman Y Gomez)!

I ordered a Burrito Enchilada with Barramundi (one of those fishy-fishies!) with an add-on of brown rice.

The bite and flavors are delish and as gorgeous as the photo above. Jack cheese, crema (I used to think it is sour cream. But then I may be mistaken.), guacamole, salsa, and corn chips... in the wrap is the pan-seared barramundi fish fillets, garlic, lime sauce, and brown rice.

The one who took my order suggested to add some brown rice in this fisho enchilada. I did and I'm heaps glad oh goody I did!  It added texture to the contents and absorbed the flavors as well, that it appears that the rice is flavorful, too. I can recall the warmth of this food with the cooling effect of the avocados and tomatoes... the rolling textures of softness, chewy, and crunchy... tastes of creamy, salted just right, and the mildly citrusy.

If you noticed their menu, the Barramundi variety is on the mild side. To those who want the kapow kick of hot flavors, there are condiments available in this resto. I have seen jalapeno (...sorry, I have no clue how to make that Spanish enye in "jalapeno" on this keyboard. But if you can post a comment on how to get that done on editing in Blogger, I'd appreciate it :-), bottled sauces... but then I cannot say much because I like it mild, too.  I guess that makes me a softie. :-)

I did my homework when I made this blog post. Your turn to do your homework like what do you want to order and how to get that done. Here's the LINK.  

If the listed branches are too far away, how about adding this resto dining experience to your bucket list? 

To all you Mexican Food fans, it's worth it!
--D.L.



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D' JOKE
Q: Why are fishes drunk on first banking day of the week?
A: Because they drink next to The Bar O'Monday.
(HINT: It sounds like the fish I wrote about in this blog. ;-)
--D.L.