Chinese New Year

For chinese New Year we decided to celebrate as well.So we scored a table at Me Wah restaurant in Hobart
Me Wah isn't your average chinese restaurant, the wine list is the first sign of that and backed up by the string of Best Restaurant awards.

It was a set menu for Chinese New Year:
- FINELY DICED COLD BERKSHIRE PORK CROQUETTE W/ SUGAR INFUSED BLACK VINEGAR, LIGHT SOYA ON STIR FRIED BOK CHOY STRIPS
- DRUNKEN SHREDDED CHICKEN BREAST W/ FINELY CHOPPED CORIANDER and WILD WAKAME
- FRESH W.A. YABBIE TAILS PAN TOSSED W/ SPICY SALT, FIVE SPICES and SUGAR GLAZED GAI LARN LEAVES
- DEEP FRIED TARO MASH STUFFED W/ WILD HARVESTED JUMBO SCALLOP DICED SHITAKES MUSHROOM SAUCE ON SWEET POTATO WEDGES
- SHREDDED GREENLIP ABALONE, SUN DRIED CONPOY W/ HAND MADE EGG NOODLES IN ABALONE JUS and BRAISED SLICED LOTUS ROOT
- SMOKED RANNOCK QUAIL BREAST W/ HOI SIN SAUCE and MASTER BROTH POACHED ROUND BEANS
- DICED RANNOCK QUAIL W/ GARLIC CHIVES, BLACK MUSHROOM, BEAN SPROUTS SERVED IN STEAMED MANDARIN PANCAKE
- WAYGU SIRLOIN BEEF CUBES WOK TOSSED W/ DRIED SHALLOTS, 3 KINDS OF CAPSICUM, FRESH CHILLI, WHOLE BLACK BEANS, TSIAO XING RICE WINE and STEAMED SNOW PEAS
- WAYGU BEEF MINCE, FRESH SHALLOTS and GARLIC W/ FRIED RICE
- BAKED CRÈME BRULEE EGG TART
- TROPICAL FRESH FRUIT SALAD W/ LYCHEE LIQUEUR and SIROP DE GRENADINE
- RED BEAN PUREE WRAPPED W/ SAGO
- IRON BUDDHA TEA OR ESPRESSO COFFEE

The food as you would expect was very good, the only real fault being that the yabbie tails were perhaps a little too salty.The dancing lion and whole ceremony made for a very enjoyable night.

Definitely recommend if anyone hasn't been to Me Wah to go, and be adventurous get away from beef in black bean and try something different.

Carrot Cake

I decided I needed to do more baking so last night I embarked on making a carrot cake.

So after scouring the web and comparing recipes I picked up what I think is the basics and went from there.

My Recipe:

2 cups grated carrot (I used about 4 medium sized carrots)

3/4 cup sunflower or vegetable oil

1 cup brown or caster sugar

3 eggs

2 cups SR flour or use plain flour and add a tsp of baking powder

1 tsp bi-carb soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg

1 cup chopped walnuts

Icing

1 220g tub philadelphia cream cheese (use light or normal as you see fit)

1 cup icing sugar

1 lemon

more choped walnuts to decorate.

Mix together the sugar, eggs and oil in one bowl until combined.

Put the flour, bi carb, nutmeg and cinnamon in another bowl, then mix in the wet ingredients.

Once combined add the grated carrot and walnuts.

Put in a cake tin of some description (see more on that below) and bake in a 180 degree oven until cooked (about 30 mins)

Mix the cream cheese, icing sugar, grated lemon rind, and juice of half or whole of the lemon depending on taste and size of the lemon.

Once the cake is cooked leave to cool then ice with the lemon cream cheese frosting

Firstly the result. Well the cake is moist and the icing is good and just the right amount of lemon.

My only really bad comment it might have had a touch too much nutmeg I have already adjusted the above to address this. In my version I used a full teaspoon of nutmeg.

Now my other point. The reason I said in a tin of some description and just until cooked is I've finally figured out why sometime my cakes weren't cooked or cooked to quickly aka burnt.

There's a very complex relationship between how wet your mixture is, the size and shape of the tin and how hot your oven is (and if it's fan forced or not as well!).

A vey wet mixture requires a combination of lower temperature and shallower/broader cake tin. I've mostly been using a loaf style tin and it's too deep for a really wet mixture. In order to be cooked correctly throughout before you start to burn the outside the mix needs to starting to approach a dough like consistency, or else you only need 5-7cm or so deep of mix in the tin, which defeats the purpose of using a loaf tin.

I did use a loaf tin for the above and had to wind the oven right down to about 150-160 and it took nearly a full hour to be cooked. Also for anyone that hasn't already heard the tip you can tell when it's cooked by sticking a skewer into the cake and pulling it out and seeing if anything still sticks to it.

The ideal tin I think for the above would be a 20cm round cake tin, the cake should then be cooked through before the outside starts to go too hard or burnt.

That's my real point I suppose with this post, sure the carrot cake recipe is good and now I know where to find it again. :) I'm sure this is knowledge most of our grandmas know but took me quite a while to figure it out for myself.

Hopefully by releasing it into the world I'll save someone else the hassles and people's cooking will be better.

Xmas recovery

It's been a while since I posted but that's not so much neglect as I just haven't been anywhere or done anything exciting since Christmas.

I don't think it would be in my best interests to crique Christmas dinner as I might get the smack down from Mum, plus I also helped cook it so you know it was good. That's probably the last full on meal I've had.

I did recipricate the hospitality by cooking dinner one night whilst at the folks, we had steamed pork dumplings in a soy and mirin sauce (too dry needed to be wetter, don't pre-cook or only very lightly next time). Main was pan fired salmon on asian greens. the skin of which I managed to burn but saved it reasonably OK.

Whilst in Melbourne I did go to a place on Tatersall's Lane called Shanghai Dumpling or something similar. Reasonably priced, as good as any dumpling place going around, not the best not the worst I've ever had, wsa packed with more asians than other races which is usually a good sign.

More interesting was the really hip looking outdoor bar just further up the street. It was an old caravan with lots of shipping containers and pallets stacked to sit on. Very urban, and very different. I'd imagine they'd do a roaring trade in summer but wouldn't be open much in the winter, but the setup means the overheads would be low so I guess it'd work.

Since seeing in the new year with a humble BBQ, the next biggest highlight has been corporate box catering at the Moorilla Open in Hobart. What can be said about 2 day old sandwiches in plastic triangle cases, at least the beer was cold. they should probably get someone with better counting skills than a ten year olds to run drinks though, and while they're at it get an electronic scoreboard too.

Almost forgot, the highlight for Xmas was a book entitled The Curry Bible by Mridula Baljekar to add to the collection. Hard covers, pictures on the left one recipe per page on the right for those playing at home.

I tried the chicken korma with pistachios, and it was very nice. I think the key was the cardamom seeds, kind of sweet but kind of tangy or spicy at the same time, interesting none the less.

I'll endeavour to go out and hit somewhere in the next week, so I have something to write about.

Cheers.