XY Dim Sum Dumpling House

Last week I was delighted that some very special people came to visit Canberra, and that I got to spend some time with them. Of course while they were here we very much needed to go out for some delicious food. And what better way to have some fun then go for all you can eat yum cha?

I've been to XY Dim Sum Dumpling House a number of times on the weekend, but not on a weeknight and I was happy to find that it was not only cheaper ($16.80 rather than the $18.80 for weekends) but there was no drop in quality.

Carrot Cake

Yet another sweet treat! Recently my friend P got admitted as a solicitor and another friend and I decided to have a little dinner party to celebrate. In our usual fashion I was responsible for dessert. I had taken this recipe from a friend of my sisters and was very keen to try it. It turned out very moist and kept well in the fridge, it was definitely a recipe that I will make again. I made the cake one day and iced it the next, there is nothing worse than nice chilled cream cheese becoming warm and gross because your cake is still too hot!


So here is the recipe for a delicious carrot cake, perfect to share and very moreish!

Kaya Drop Biscuits

The final product!

As promised, I am happy today to share my first kaya baking adventure! After much discussion with friends I decided that kaya drop biscuits were an excellent first start. For those of you not familiar, a normal jam drop is a sweet biscuit base with a dollop of fruit jam (often raspberry) dropped in the middle before baking. Once they are cooked the jam looks and tastes delicious! Since kaya is technically a jam it seemed like a natural first step- especially once I found a drop recipe that included coconut in the biscuit base, what a perfect flavour combination! I took the biscuits to work to share with colleagues, unsure of how they would like them. Well, I think it is safe to say that they were liked as the whole container was gone by about 10:45 AM! I think that might be success. So here is the recipe (I adapted this from a Coconut Jam Drop recipe from taste.com.au). You might note that the way I have made the recipe means that it is also dairy free (woot!)

Singaporean Deliciousness

So my friend N recently returned from a trip home to Singapore. Anytime that I know someone is going or even passing through I give them a list, and there are two things I generally always want- kaya, and more kaya!

And I was not disappointed! Look at the goodies I got today:

On the left you will see the nyonya kaya, on the right the plain kaya. The difference is in the addition of the pandan, which makes the nyonya kaya green. If you are not sure what kaya is, have a look here. Yes, it may sound a bit strange, but hey so does vegemite and it also amazing. I eat kaya a little differently to some people, but everyone has their own opinion on how it should be eaten- it's all about personal taste.

You may notice the t-shirt that is underneath the jars? Well, my friend brought that back for me as well! Yes, it does indeed say I ♥ SG! But what can I say, I do have a soft spot. Who wouldn't love a country that led to me eating kaya today? It would be like not loving the country that gave me vegemite!

Maya Da Dhaba

Another Sydney food feast spot!

H and I did the Harbour Bridge Climb (which incidentally was amazing, despite the 50km/hour winds!) while we were there and of course needed a delicious after exercise meal. So we headed off to Surrey Hills to eat at Maya Da Dhaba, a restaurant about which we had heard lots of good things!

Before I get to the main part of the post I must warn you that we were very, very hungry. Without this disclaimer you might think that we ate more than is humanely possible. Apologies for the iphone photos but my camera ran out of battery (again). I've now got a new battery so picture qualities should increase (yay!)

Guest Post: Chai by H

Today I am excited to welcome my first ever guest post! H has been keen to contribute to the blog since it started and has been extremely helpful, especially with phototaking and holding off eating the food until we have nice pictures. This recipe is one that I think he makes at least 3 times a week (more if he has the time) and always fills the kitchen with a delicious aroma. So over to H:

Chai – My favourite hot beverage  (Serves 2)

This is a really simple recipe and can be made in 5-7 minutes. It is my and more than half of India’s preferred breakfast. I tried my best to popularise it during my time in Australia.

Ingredients

½ cup water

1 tbsp tea leaves

3 green Cardamom pods (crushed or open)

2 tea spoon sugar

½ cup milk/soy milk

1. Add water, tea leaves and cardamom pods in a saucepan and boil. Remember to open the pods as the flavour is in the seeds. Once it boils vigorously and looks reddish:

2. Add milk and sugar, then bring it to the boil 3 times.

3. Filter the chai using a sieve and serve hot.

Recommendation

Serve with Marigold or Parle G biscuits. The latter can be found in any Indian shop. Dip them and eat.  Yum. Childhood memories!!

Optional

You can replace cardamom with either 50 gm crushed ginger, holy basil leaves or cinnamon, it purely depends on what flavour you prefer. My personal favourite combinations are cardmom + ginger or holy basil leaves+ginger.

Mamak

H and I recently took a short trip to Sydney, and of course no trip would be complete without me scoffing as many of the foods that I cannot get here as quickly as possible! I am always hungry and annoying on bus trips so we decided to head straight to Mamak after getting off the bus (this was also to make sure that we did not have to line up for a table).

Of course there was just one food that I really, really wanted (one of the few that I cannot get here): Murtabak. Unfortunately the Mamak version was not my cup of tea, but the rest of the food was especially enak!

Teh Halia

End of an Era

So this post is totally unrelated to food.

It is more a quick note to say YAY! I have just handed in my final assessment for my university degree, ending 5.5 years of work :) There is still a bit more study to do until I am finished everything I need to do for my job, but the main part is over.

On a different note, I'm going to Sydney next week with H so there will be a few more reviews to come- woot!