Fresh lotus root and cooking Buddha's Delight

I watched someone on Celebrity Masterchef last year cook some lotus chips as a garnish for a meal. I was intrigued and have always wanted to try cooking with fresh lotus root. I finally found some at my old faithful, Little Saigon Market. (There is plenty of frozen lotus root about if you can't find fresh)

I Googled lotus root which helped me identify it at the market. I think it looks a little like a white sweet potato.

I'm going to try the lotus chips, but I thought I'd look for some more lotus root recipes. After a bit of looking I found this amazing recipe for Buddha's Delight. It seems to be a dish cooked generally for Chinese New Year.

I printed off the recipe and went to Great Eastern Food Centre, 185 Russell Street in Melbourne, (not far from Little Collins Street). Great Eastern is close enough to my work that I can go during my lunch break. It's another of my favourite shopping places too. The ingredient list for the recipe is fairly extensive. Each item has the English name and the Chinese name next to it. I was able to walk around the shop with my list with the very patient help of one of the staff, who was able to help me locate most of the items. When I got back to work with my treasure trove, I conferred with a Malaysian colleague and he signed off on my purchases. Halfway there I thought. His only concern was the red fermented bean curd, "are you sure?" Pause. "It's an acquired taste". We'll so how we go I guess.

A couple of days later I went to Little Saigon Market to get some fresh vegetables for the dish. The list was not so helpful there because the list was in English and Chinese but not Vietnamese.

I've detailed the ingredients and quantities that I used and followed Sunflower's directions. She suggests quite a few other additional ingredients but for a first-timer I think this list was just manageable for me!

Buddha's Delight:

These items are all measured dried-

Fatt choi (black moss) about 10g which was half the pack

Cellophane noodles, the whole pack 250g (no hope of halving a pack of dried noodles - I tried!)

Beancurd stick, 3 sticks

Shitake mushrooms, 6

Dried Lily buds, half a cup, loosely packed

Red dates, 12

Cloud ear mushrooms, half a cup

Chinese cabbage (fresh) - 3 cups

Carrot (fresh) - 1

Bamboo shoots (canned) half a cup

Straw mushrooms (canned) half a cup

Baby corn (fresh) 6

Lotus root (fresh) 1 bulb peeled and sliced (I had 3 to try - one was a bit black, one had brown inside it and the third one was just right)

Snow pea/ mangetouts (fresh) one and half cups

Garlic 5 cloves, chopped

Shallot 2 walnut sized, chopped

Red fermented beancurd/hong fu ru/nam yee 3 squares mashed with 2 tbspn of the juice

Light soy sauce 2 - 3 tbspn

Ground pepper

Sesame oil, 3 tbspn

Cornflour, 1 tbspn

60ml oil

Water

This is the finished product. It looks a bit grey, but tasted pretty good. It reheats okay in the microwave. There is a fair bit left in the pot so i'll find out if it freezes okay!

The lotus root took longer to cook than I thought it would. When I make it again, after cooking the shitakes and fermented tofu, I would add just the lotus root and baby corn, and cook for five minutes then add the remaining vegetables, except the snow peas. I'd add them with the vermicilli noodles and the black moss. The red bean fermented beancurd was unusual to use and taste but blended well into the dish, not as bad as I thought.

From the moment I began organising soaking the dried ingredients to eating the meal it took me three and a half hours. It was a really interesting experience. I was using ingredients I had never used or never heard of. I would definitely make this again.

Update: It freezes very well. Reheated it for lunch in the microwave at work.

Prosciutto Salad

The other day I had the most beautiful Prosciutto Salad at The City Wine Shop. The plate was laden with soft, sweet figs, mozzarella, some red and yellow tomatoes dressed with a little balsamic, oil and basil, grilled bread and soft sashes of prosciutto. My favourite aspect of the dish was the contrast of the slightly salty meat with the sweet figs.

I have been dreaming about this salad ever since I had it. This is my attempt at recreating the fabulous salad that I had.


I went to a couple of stores at the Queen Victoria Market before work and bought some prosciutto at two stalls and some buffalo mozzarella at another. I went to the fruit and vegetable stalls and got my tomatoes and basil.

After work I drove to Mediterranean Wholesalers for more comparison. I found prosciutto heaven, some beautiful soft Italian proscuitto, 'San Daniele'. I had a taste of some Australian prosciutto for some comparison and it was a bit drier, firmer and saltier, similar in taste to my two purchases from the Queen Vic Market.

Of course the salad wasn't quite as good as The City Wine Shop version. The mozzarella wasn't as soft as cheese they used, but the meal was close enough. At least I know where to buy my prosciutto from now on.

Tortilla press update

I somehow found myself at Casa Iberica - again. I was actually there to see what they had in the way of whole dried chillies (quite a few as it turns out). I happened to see that they currently stock quite a few tortilla presses (about $32). They also had a few tortilla warmers (about $20). They look like this but in different colours.

This info is here just in case there are any food nerds, such as myself, who may be seeking critical details about kitchen equipment of the Mexican kind.

Hi, my name is Deb and I'm addicted to grocery and kitchenware shops.

Buddha's Hand Citron

I went for a walk at lunchtime today, along Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. I walked past one of my favourite shops, The Vegetable Connection. Apart from cheese and meats; dried pastas and jars of condiments and jam; fruit and vegetables including heirloom tomatoes and a large selection of potatoes; were these little creatures:

The first time I'd seen them was on Boing Boing earlier this month. They really are quite mad-looking. A company in the US uses them to flavour vodka. Someone used them to make a limoncello style drink. Another person has made marmalade with them. Or you can make candied fruit with it. You can also grate it and use it like lemon zest.

I picked up the fruit, with encouragement from the guy in the shop and rubbed the skin and there is lemon/lime scent about the fruit. The fruit retails for about $15 a kilo, so $4 or $5 each.

I must say I was stumped with this fruit. No clues as to what to do with it. I didn't buy one today. Maybe I'll get one another day. According to my fruit and vegetable bible, Market Fresh, they are in season until October, so maybe the fruit muse will strike before then!

I had a quick look at Little Saigon Market on the way home from work and no sign of them there today. Maybe they'll appear there later in the season.

Certainly one of the more bizarre fruits I've seen in recent times. I think I'd like to grow a Buddha's Hand tree one day, what a cool thing to have growing in your back yard!

Custard Apples (Cherimoya)

In my wanderings around Little Saigon Market in Footscray early in the week, there were a few custard apples. A few weeks ago there were heaps. Not sure why there are less at the moment because they're in season till about August. Hopefully more come into the shops again soon.

So here is more info about the custard apple. There are two kinds available in the shops, the African Pride which is rounder and has more pips, or the Pink Mammoth with is more misshapen and less pips. I bought this one, a Pink Mammoth I think (I'm no botanist that's for sure!) not ripe and left on the bench a couple of days and ate it after work today. Yum.

You get a spoon and scoop out bits of the fruit and eat discarding the pips as you go. The fruit is really soft and delicious and has a very, very slight banana taste. When I've brought them ripe they are cheaper but can be a bit mangled by the time I get them home. So I just spend a bit more about $4 and buy unripe. There are a few dessert recipes on the internet.

Another way to enjoy them is in a smoothie at a Vietnamese cafe/restaurant. I've had the drink at Hung Vuong in Footscray and it's delicious. Frozen pieces of custard apple blended with a little sugar syrup and ice. Better than any freezy drink at a convenience store. The photo isn't the best but it gives you an idea. I have bought it as a takeaway too. On a hot day getting to Footscray on the train after work then walking up to Hung Vuong to get my lovely freezy drink and then waiting for the bus home. Heaven!

SBS has a video of someone making the custard apple drink. (with Maeve O'Mara on Food Safari)

There are also plenty of comments about custard apples (cherimoya) on Boing Boing.

Breakfast

I left Melbourne early Saturday morning to visit friends and relatives in Mornington. To prepare myself for the journey I stopped at Babka in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, for some breakfast.

Last week I had a blintz for dessert at the Pancake Parlour and it wasn't too bad. On Saturday morning I had two blintzs at Babka and they were gorgeous! Filled with cottage cheese and some sultanas, fried and served on the plate dusted with some sugar and served with a light lemon sauce. I tried to eat them slowly because they were too good.

On my way out of Babka I bought a loaf of their wholemeal and sunflower bread and drove to Mornington with the smell of bread, not long out of the oven, wafting in the car.

When I arrived in Mornington, I had a look at some op shops and was still feeling peckish so had a second breakfast. Across from Vinnies op shop in the main street is a place called Biscottini. I knew nothing about the place and headed in. I saw on the menu French toast with vanilla marscapone, topped with fresh strawberries and maple syrup. Sounded okay. So I ordered.

It was delicious! The strawberries were sweet and the vanilla and marscapone was melt in the mouth!

Hopefully it is still on the menu when I return to Mornington!

Mangosteens

These are mangosteens. They are in season from December to April, so they are in the final weeks of supply. There are two ways to get into them. You can cut around the middle and they make a nice display, but it is very difficult (well for me it was) to avoid cutting into the fruit, particularly if you want to use the segments in a salad.

Or you can get into them by pressing into the bottom of the fruit, you push in until the (quite thick) skin gives. Then you extract the segments, but it can be a messy process.

You just have to experiment to find out what works for you. And it is worth the trouble. The fruit inside is really tasty, not too sweet and has a really mild citrus taste. They range in price between $12 a kilo to $8 a kilo. The plate of fruit in the first picture cost me about $10. I will happily purchase these each year as they come into season.

The Market Fresh website has plenty of info about mangosteens.

Woolworths also has some info and ideas about how to use the fruit, in a smoothie or a fruit salad.

Ready Steady Cook has a recipe for mangosteen sorbet.

Robin Powell writes about seasonal fruit and vegetables in the Sydney Morning Herald and says:

According to Thai tradition the sweetest mangosteens have the smallest button on the bottom of the fruit. Will have to pay more attention to my fruit! (all the buttons looked the same size to me)

Another article in the New York Times details one man's (persistent) attempt to grow them. His crop was damaged by vandals and what was left was wipe by a hurricane a year later.

If you live in North Queensland you could even try to grow your own!

I'll just keep buying them till they are no longer in the shops and then wait until they are back in season again.

Mamasita

I went to Mamasita in February when it first opened. I was really looking forward to it. The staff were great and explained everything, which was very helpful. I ordered a quesadilla de chorizo, which is a quesadilla with chorizo, potato and salsa inside and topped with queso fresco (cheese) and pico de gallo (a salsa with coriander). If I hadn't had the coriander salsa it would have been a fairly bland dish. The taco contained black beans (frijoles), cactus (nopales) and some queso fresco and was okay. But was a bit underwhelmed by the meal. I wanted it to be fabulous.

I went for the second time in March and had the tamale dish, tamales de flor de calabaza. The tamale had zucchini blossom and goats cheese, with a red pepper (capsicum) salad over the top, and some, I think, watercress. I had been a little worried as I am really not a fan of goats cheese, but I couldn't even taste it. If I hadn't read the menu I wouldn't have known what was in it. The tamale was a bit heavy and stodgy, but maybe that's what tamales are like. I wouldn't rush to try one again.

I also had ensalada de nopales, a salad of mixed salad greens, nopales (cactus), red peppers (capsicum), green beans, queso fresco and lime.

The salad was a winner, really great, light and refreshing. This has been my favourite dish at Mamasita.

On my third visit, I had the tostaditas de maiz, topped with sweet corn, blackbeans, epazote, jalapeno salsa and queso fresco. This was quite a tasty snack.

I finished with the mole poblano con pollo which is a red mole sauce with chicken. This was quite disappointing. The chicken pieces has been cooked and placed in the dish with the mole poured over. The chicken was bland and the mole was pleasant but not as tasty as I'd imagined. I was still hungry afterwards and stopped and got some California rolls on the way back to work.

I went three times to make sure it wasn't just an off visit. On my third visit when I was at the bar to pay, I talked to two girls having their lunch and they raved about the place. Whenever I've been it's been packed. The fitout of the place is modern and stylish. The staff are really friendly and helpful. The plates of food look good. I just felt that the food was underwhelming in flavour. I wanted to fall in love with the place. I think Mamasita is a great place for snacks and drinks. I'll go back another time to try a margarita and have some snacks, but I won't be lunching there for a while.

Mamasita

Level 1, 11 Collins Street

Melbourne

Ph 9650 3821

Open Mon to Thu, midday to midnight

Fri, midday to 2am

Sat, 6pm to 2am

Tortilla press in Melbourne

On my list of shops to visit has been USA Foods. I finally got there!

The usual suspects were there, lot's of Hershey chocolates and sauces. There were about 14 flavour varieties of Pop Tarts. I succumbed and bought one called S'mores that had chocolate and marshmallow in it. I used this as the purchase justification! I'd never eaten a Pop Tart before so how dodgy could something be with chocolate and marshmallow in it? There were some Twinkies there but I'm not convinced that they're my thing. Maybe next visit I'll try some.

There were biscuits, confectionery of all sorts, cans and bottles of drink (must buy a Snapple one day, for the name alone!). I bought a small container of Mini-Oreos, just because. There were chocolate biscuits called Moon Pie and as I suspected they are like Wagon Wheels.

There were paper plates with a picture of a turkey on it, (that's Thanksgiving sorted if that's your thing) and quite a few plates, cups, paper napkins and flags with the stars and stripes. There were some small Canadian flags as well. Plenty of jars of chilies and packets of chilies and spices to make tacos etc. I found some whole dried Ancho chilies which I've also seen at Aztec Products in Tullamarine and Casa Iberica in Fitzroy.

The biggest surprise there was tortilla presses! They had two sizes, so of course I purchased one.


So that's another future project.

So if you want to buy some American groceries in Melbourne, this is a good place to start. Their website has an extensive list of products to select from.

USA Foods

146 Cochranes Road

Moorabbin

Ph: 9555 0288

Mon, Wed - Fri, 10am to 5pm

Sat, 10am to 3pm

Sun, 11am to 2pm

Closed Tuesdays and Public Holidays

PS: I don't think Pop-Tarts will be on my regular breakfast menu, just a bit too sweet for me. But of course I'll finish the packet!

The book I learnt to cook from.

The first book I remember cooking from and probably the only one in the house for a long time was the McAlpin's Family Favourites Recipe Book. Mum probably bought it through some McAlpin's flour promotion when we were little.

A few years ago, she was doing a clean out and wanted to throw the book out, and rightly so, it had torn and loose pages and the cover was hanging on by a thread. I asked her for the book, even though it was in such a state of disrepair.

I felt so sentimental about this book. It's the one that my sister, brother and I all learnt to cook from;

• I made the Chocolate Royals on page 40, which we nicknamed 'rubber duckies' because the marshmallow went just a bit more solid than it was meant too!
• Mum patiently helped us to cook Brandy Snaps; we had to work quickly to wrap the snaps around a spoon handle to make the tubes,
• We had burns on our arms from trying to cook Pikelets (Drop Scones) in the electric frypan,
• We cooked the Pinwheel Biscuits, the Nut Loaf, Yo-Yo's and the Honey and Almond Pinwheel and many other things

The pages revisited are stained with flour, sugar and butter. This was a well-used book.

And now I have a shiny new copy thanks to a lovely seller on Ebay.

It took me quite a while to hunt it down.


It's in such great condition. I don't think the previous owner of this copy used it to teach their kids to cook, that's for sure!

I should get rid of the old copy but I'm just not ready to do that yet.