Asian style potato mince

Ingredients:


250g mince pork
4 potatoes cut in small cubes
2 handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 onion diced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oil


Method:

1. Heat oil in pan and fry off garlic and onions till fragrant. Add the mince pork and brown the meat.
2. Add the cubed potatoes, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, water and sugar and bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the mixed vegetables and cook for a further 5 minutes or until potatoes are cooked.

Claypot chicken rice

Hello hello. In my ultra frustrating spurt of wedding planning research last week, I have neglected you guys *sad face*. Perhaps I could tempt you with this Claypot Chicken Rice recipe?

Ingredients:
Marinade:
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp Shao Xing wine
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp kecap manis or sugar
1 tbsp cornflour


Other ingredients
2 cups cooked rice
4 chicken thigh fillets
6 Chinese mushrooms soaked and sliced
2 Lap cheong (Chinese sausage)
spring onions for garnishing


Method:

1. Cut chicken into smaller pieces and marinade in mix as above along with mushrooms for at least 3 hours. Preferably overnight.
2. Slice the Chinese sausage into thin slices. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry off the Chinese sausage until fragrant.
3. Add cooked rice to claypot and pour the chicken, mushrooms and marinade over the rice and spread evenly. Add the Chinese sausage and oil and put the lid on. Place claypot on gas stove to cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Turn off heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
4. Garnish with spring onions and it's ready to serve.

If you don't have a gas stove you can actually put the claypot in the oven instead. This is my quick version for when I'm using left over rice. If you don't have a claypot this can also be done in the rice cooker. When the rice is firm enough pour the chicken over it and leave it to cook. Hope you enjoy it!

Sparrow Kitchen and Bar - North Adelaide

Helloooooo! It's been a while I know. Sorry! So, last week I caught up with a couple of old friends and we went to Sparrow Kitchen and Bar in North Adelaide. Stepping inside I immediately loved the ambiance and the bar area was definitely my favourite. 

Starting the night off with sangria!

We decided to try the Duck Donut and Mini Wagyu Beef Burger. Now, I know this is a tapas place but god where these tiny. It was very tasty nonetheless.

For mains we had the Seafood Paella, Smoked Chicken Wood Oven Pizza with BBQ Sauce and Spice Braised Lamb Cocas on Flat Bread with Red Onion, Corn and Coriander Salad. 


The Lamb on Flat Bread was divine! The lamb was so tender, juicy and flavourful and the red onion, corn and coriander salad really complemented it. 

The Smoked Chicken Wood Oven Pizza with BBQ Sauce was very tasty too. You can never go wrong with wood oven pizzas!

The paella was nice but it was a bit salty for my liking. She did mention that it is salty and we need to squeeze some lemon juice to cut through the salt but it didn't work all that well. Other than that, it was not too bad a dish.

It was a great night, good food, good company and lovely atmosphere.

Happy 50th Birthday

Hello everybody! Quick post again! Made this cake on the weekend for a 50th birthday! I'm very glad to say that the birthday boy was impressed!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

My Sweet and Sour Chicken, Carl's all time favourite from my repertoire! I haven't made it in a long time because I don't like deep frying. No, I'm not that healthy, just don't like a greasy kitchen. Anyway here is my rendition of the classic Chinese dish. Hope you like it just as much.


Ingredients:
1 capsicum cut to chunks
1/2 Lebanese cucumber cut to chunk
3/4 cup pineapple pieces
3 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 brown onion cut in cubes
4-5 chicken thigh fillets
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tsp vinegar
11/2 tsp sugar OR 1 tbsp syrup from tinned pineapples
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Shao Xing wine
1 tsp white pepper
1/2-1/3 cup water
oil for deep frying
cornflour or (half cornflour and half plain flour)
2 eggs beaten
chopped spring onions for garnish

Method:

1. Cut chicken thigh fillets into cubes and dip it in egg and then coat it in cornflour and deep fry till golden brown. Drain the oil and set chicken aside.
2. Heat 4 tbsp of oil in wok/pan. Can use deep frying oil if you like. Add chopped onions and garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Next add capsicum pieces and toss for about 1 minute.
3. Next, add the soy sauce, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, vinegar, sugar OR syrup and 1/2 cup of water and mix well till boiling.
4. Add the pineapple pieces, chicken, pepper and sesame oil. Make sure you coat the pieces of chicken well with the sauce. Cook for about 3-4 minutes.
5. Lastly, add the cucumber chunks and Shao Xing cooking wine and toss well for about 2-3 minutes until evenly mixed.
6. Your sweet and sour chicken is now ready to serve. Garnish with spring onions and serve with steamed rice.

There you have it. A delicious meal. Just a quick tip, feel free to add water a bit at a time if you feel it's getting too dry. The heat from each stove is slightly different. Enjoy!!

Organik Cafe and Store Glenelg

Last beautiful Saturday morning we decided to head to Organik Cafe and Store at Glenelg for breakfast as we had a voucher for the place. Situated on 37 Broadway Street, Glenelg South, the cafe and store are side by side and they serve and sell only organic produce. Just to be extra environmentally friendly as well, there are no printed menus. You order at the counter and everything is written on chalkboards. Breakfast menu to your right, lunch menu to the left, coffee and tea above a cupboard and the drinks and juice menu on a large board behind the counter above the window to the kitchen. I rather liked the feel of the place. 

They had a big range of smoothies and juices kinda like Boost Juice. I decided on the Flu Fighter not because I was fighting off flu but because it sounded like what I wanted. Carl of course went for the banana smoothie. 

The menu is not very extensive but includes all the basics. They serve sourdough bread which is one of my favourite types of bread. I had Toasted organic sourdough with pesto, mushrooms and Swiss cheese. It was very very yummy. The bread was fresh and beautiful, the mushrooms were juicy and Swiss cheese is just my favourite cheese of all time so, nothing could possibly go wrong with that dish!

Organic poached eggs with sourdough toast and free range bacon was Carl's choice for the morning. Free range bacon does taste better. The eggs were poached well. 

It was an enjoyable breakfast on a nice relaxed spring morning with perfect sunshine. This place is a bit expensive but that's probably because they use organic produce. Eggs and toast alone is $9.50 and the free range  bacon was $4.00 for two rashers. You can add sauteed spinach at $3.00, mushrooms at $4.00, roasted tomato or organic baked beans at $3.00 each.  A full works breakfast would have cost an expensive $26.50!

Check our their website:  Organik Cafe

Outback Jack's Glenelg

Outback Jack's Glenelg. Where do I start. This is my second visit to this place as the first time we actually had a good meal and experience. This time however, we were severely disappointed. To start with, the service wasn't too bad as the waiter ensured we were seated and got our drinks order pretty quick. Next, we ordered our food........and then it was downhill from there.

Meat!!!

We were getting progressively hungrier as the clock ticked it's way to 45 minutes later. Finally we got our Bush Pepper Calamari and Jack's Cheese and Chips (chips topped with bacon and melted cheese). It was somewhat nice but also lacking seasoning especially the calamari. Definitely lacked salt and I couldn't really taste or smell the pepper either. 

After seeing all the meat I decided to go for Surf and Turf (Sirloin steak topped with grilled barramundi and sauteed prawns with garlic cream sauce). I like my steak medium rare and I asked for medium rare and I got medium-well done. The meat was almost gray with a very slight pink in the middle. I couldn't be bothered sending it back. I just wanted to go home. The garlic cream sauce lacked flavour, the chips that came with it lacked seasoning and the steak was just chewy and tough I gave up halfway. I decided to finish the salad instead which is very rare. The prawns didn't taste fresh and was overcooked. 

Carl went for Fillet Mignon which looked very pathetic as it hit the table. I could instantly tell it was overdone and sure enough, it was. With a very slight pink in the middle, burnt bacon and very charred outside of the steak, we decided to send this one back. When we called the waitress and showed her that this wasn't medium rare, she argued that it was still pink so it is. Long story short, she took it back anyway for it to be re-cooked a bit rarer. Here's the charred steak. 

Sure enough we got the steak back. This time I thought it was a bit too rare. I pressed the steak gently with my fork and wished Carl luck. It was very rare and still cold in the middle. We couldn't be bothered arguing or sending it back anymore. The food was terrible and we were incredibly tired of it all by this stage. Carl just ate the sides and cut the cold, rare meat into cubes and asked for a takeaway container. My dog was very happy with Carl's and my leftover steak but unfortunately he's not the one writing this review.

All in all, we were extremely disappointed and won't be coming back again for a long time. I can't help but wonder if they have changed owners/chef since the last time we went. If you work in a steak house and can't tell what's medium rare from medium well done, you shouldn't be working there. Worse still for the chef, if you can only cook medium well done or rare and cold, it's time to go back to training. My apologies for the most brutal review yet. Lucky first, Outback Jack's.

Montagna's Cafe Blackwood

Time for another visit to a local restaurant. This time we hit Montagna's Cafe in Blackwood which used to be Rimini's. First impression we thought the place was clean and nice. Food was a bit pricey in general for this type of cafe but we shall see what it tastes like.

I went for Spaghetti Marinara. The seafood was fresh and plentiful with mussels, prawns, morton bay bugs and squid. Probably why they charge more for it. The only downside was the marinara sauce had a funny taste to it. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but I think they may have splashed way too much white wine on which ruined the taste.

Carl had the good old Seafood Basket with crumbed prawns and scallops, squid and fish served with chips and salad. A pretty good feed.

Time for dessert! The Pear tart was quite nice. However, it was very dense and sweet so we quickly filled up. Not a bad dessert.

Brandy snap basket was slightly disappointing. Although there was lots of fruit I would have liked a bigger biscuit basket!

Overall it's a nice local place but we have been a few times now and the quality of food can be inconsistent. Also, service is sometimes great but other times, it's like the staff are having a social party and not always dressed appropriately. Non-staff has also been seen behind the bar/kitchen entrance loitering and it's quite unprofessional and off-putting.

Ajisen Ramen

The other night we decided to go to Ajisen Ramen. What a great choice. It's a lovely little hidden gem on 23 Leigh Street, Adelaide CDB. As the name suggests, this is a Ramen house but they also serve rice dishes, bento boxes and the usual sides such as Gyoza, Tori Karaage, Takoyaki, Agedashi Tofu, Wakami Salad etc. 

Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish which is thought to have originated from the Chinese. It's a type of wheat noodles usually served in a meat (pork) or fish-based broth and flavoured with soy or miso then served with desired toppings. They almost always come with dried seaweed, green onions and vegetables. 

Carl ordered some warm sake and away we order!!!

Tori karaage was always a favourite of ours and never fails to make the cut when it comes to ordering so here it is again. It was delicious, fresh and the chicken was still juicy! 

Takoyaki

Everytime we order ramen Carl has the image of Naruto (or any Japanese anime) slurping down ramen with a stack of bowls next to him and asking for more. Thankfully he  didn't slurp them down tonight. I went for Paiku ramen which was beautifully marinated and braised tenderloin pork ribs served with ramen. It was delicious, the soup was tasty and the pork ribs were so tender they just melted. All their ramen are served with egg and vegetables.

Carl went for Chargrilled beef ramen. The beef had a nice chargrilled flavour and was very tender and juicy. Another tasty dish!

The meals are inexpensive with most mains around $10-12. Definitely revisiting this one.