Category Archives: Foodie

Yumcha

Posted on March 27, 2012 | 12 comments

Living in Sydney, we get access to all type of the food from around the world. It feels really good to choose from hundreds of options when we decide to go out for lunch or dinner.

Last weekend, it was very wet and windy so we decided to go for some nice and warm Yumcha lunch at Dragon Boat Restaurant in Darling harbour.

Yum cha also know as Ban ming  is a Chinese style morning or afternoon tea, which involves drinking Chinese tea and eating dim sum dishes. Yum cha in Cantonese literally means “drink tea”, while ban ming is a more poetic “tasting of tea”.

To start of with, the place has an amazing view of the Darling harbour. It is one of the most happening places in Sydney so even on a wet day, the atmosphere was great. As we had gone there around mid day, the place was not busy but as the lunch time had started the place filled up quickly and most of the people were having warm food, probably due to the weather.

The place was excellently furnished with Chinese red wood furniture and we had an amazing view as we were given a window seat.

The place was a bit pricy for Yumcha compared to other places but we loved the Peking duck. We also had meat spring roll, Pancake, prawn dim sim, mixed fried dumpling, chicken leg, fried prawns and pork belly. I was very disappointed by dumplings and the worst part was, the waiters are so unfriendly. They try not to look at you as much as possible. We had to wait a long time for a glass of water.

Apart from that,I had a great time with my husband.I was happy to enjoy good company with nice food. I still love my Yumcha and will go back again but may be to a different restaurant.

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How to make Puri/Swari

Posted on February 9, 2012 | 12 comments

Ingredient

  • 2 cup of  Flour
  • 1  cup of Water
  • Ghee to deep fry

Method

  • Mix flour and water to make dough. Knead well till you get uniform dough. Dough should be soft so we can make thin puri.
  • Cover the dough with a plate and leave it for a few hours.
  • Take a small amount of dough and roll with a rolling pin to make a circle about 2 mm thick and 10 – 12 cm in diameter.
  • Roll a few of them first before heating the oil as it doesn’t take too long to cook the puri.
  • Heat the oil in a deep pan. There should be enough oil in the pan so the puri will sink. To check if the temperature of the oil is right, put a small amount of dough in the oil. If it raises immediately to the top, it is ready for the puri
  • Put the puri in the hot oil and use a basting spoon to press the puri slightly. It will help puri to puff up.
  • Once it is cooked put them on a kitchen towel to take out the excess ghee.
  • If you want hard crunchy puri, do not stack then on top of each other.
  • If you want soft Swari (a type of soft Nepali puri), then stack them on top of each other.
  • Server with with any curry or it can be enjoyed with tea.


You may also like :

*Momo *Aloo ko achar *Chicken chili

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Healthy oat and almond balls

Posted on January 16, 2012 | 8 comments

Post Christmas, I am trying my best to eat healthy and looking for easy and healthy recipes. One of the worst things when you are trying to eat healthy is the urge to snack. I found this oat ball recipe which is easy to make and healthy to eat so I am sharing the recipe here. I tried it and it turned out yummy. It is a very healthy snack which can be stored for days.

 Ingredients 

  • Oat meal – 100gm
  • Almond meal – 200gm
  • Baking powder – 3 teaspoon
  • Honey- 4 tablespoon
  • Oil- 4 tablespoon
  • Carrot -200 gm
  • Crushed almond -100 gm

Procedure

  • Cook the carrot so it becomes soft and mash it.
  • In a bowl, mix oatmeal, almond meal, honey, oil and baking powder.
  • Then add the carrot mash into the bowl and mix everything together and make consistent dough of it.
  • Now take a small amount of dough in your hand and make a ball.
  • Roll the ball in crushed almonds so the ball is fully covered with almond pieces.
  • Make balls out of all the dough and put them in a baking tray.
  • Place the tray in the oven for 25 minutes on 180 degree C.
  • When the balls turn brownish, it is ready to be taken out of the oven.
  • Leave it to cool for 10-15 minutes to harden.
  • Enjoy a healthy snack.

 

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Indulgence

Posted on January 5, 2012 | 6 comments

One of the good things while on holiday is that you don’t have to think about what you are eating. First of all, you don’t have to cook and on top of that you can order whatever you want from the menu. No dieting and no stress.  I just want to share some photos of food that I loved while on my last holiday.

 

While in Vanuatu, we found out that coconut crab and lobster were really cheap there compared to Sydney. The crab was $40 and lobster $20. You would never get that here so we enjoyed it all in Vanuatu.

And then after coming back to Sydney, we went for a big lunch to Pancake On The Rocks and indulged on pork ribs and chicken crepes followed by chocolate and orange pancake.  We had ice tea and cold mocha as well. I really don’t know how we ate it all but I remember it was very yummy 🙂

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Momo

Posted on December 8, 2011 | 19 comments

Momo is one of the popular food of Nepal. Yesterday I had a day off so I decided to make momo. There are different ways of making momo but I think the way I do it is the simplest. So here is the process.

 Ingredients for momo:

  • 3 Wonton Pastry wrappers from an Asian grocery store, 30 pieces in each pack (In Nepal, they make their own from scratch. It is like making roti  but only as big as your palm.)

momo (2)

  • ½ kg chicken mince

momo (5)

  • ¼ of cabbage finely chopped

momo (6)

  • ½ kg red onion finely chopped

momo (7)

  • 1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 fresh red chilli, diced
  • 2 tablespoons mustard oil
  • Salt to taste

 Process

  • Mix the chicken mince, cabbage, red opinion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, chilli and salt in a bowl.
  • Heat oil in a pan and add turmeric powder. Pour the oil on top of the mixture prepared in above step and mix well.

momo

  • Leave the mixture in the fridge for ½ hours so meat is will be well seasoned.
  • In the mean time, make the golbheda (Nepali tomato sauce) ko achar as mention below.
  • Now we need to pack the meat in the wonton pastry.
  • Take one sheet of pastry on one palm and fold as shown in the video below.
  • You can choose to make a semi circle one (my attempt) or round one (AS’s attempt).

  • Pinch and twist the pleats to ensure the absolute closure of the stuffed dumpling, this keeps the juices inside for a tasty momo.
  • Make at least one pack (30 pieces) before heating the water.
  • Heat water in the steamer.
  • Oil the steamer racks and transfer the dumplings onto the rack. Make sure you leave enough room between two momos to expand during cooking.

momo (3)

  • Once the water starts boiling, put the heat on medium and stack the rack on the steamer.
  • Steam for 10 minutes.
  • Serve the cooked momo with achar.
  • Momos are best when served hot.

 Ingredients for achar

  • ½ kg tomato
  • ½ bunch of coriander
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • ½  teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 fresh red chilli, diced
  • 1 tablespoon mustard oil
  • Salt to taste

Method for achar

  • Dice tomatoes into small cubes.

momo (8)

  • Heat the oil in the pan.
  • Add turmeric powder, ginger and garlic and fry for few minutes.
  • Add diced tomatoes and cumin power, coriander powder, chilli and salt and fry for few minutes.

momo (1)

  • Add 2 cups of water and let it simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
  • When the paste becomes thick, it is ready to be served.
  • Cut fresh coriander into small pieces.
  • Now add the chopped fresh coriander and mix it in the achar.

Enjoy Momo with Golbheda ko achar.

PS: If you can find momo masala in Asian grocery store, you can use that instead of cumin and coriander powder. It tastes better with momo masala.

You may also like :

*Yomari *Chatamari *Gundruk Aloo Bhatmas Curry

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