What Food Are You Eating?

[Pedicabby]

What herbs and spices would make it into Khmer style? I love playing around with different spices but knowing what is used and quantities would be helpful.

I haven't a scooby. It didn't really taste any different than similar dishes I have had of late. The menu said Khmer Style so I just threw that up with the pics.

[bigross86]

Girlfriend wasn't over, so I did what any normal college student with a job, final papers and exams coming up does. Cooking!

I went to the supermarket and decided to randomly pick up vegetables and make a stir fry. I sliced and diced some onion, garlic, sweet potato, carrot, green pepper, carrot and cauliflower (which spent 6.5 minutes in the microwave to soften it up a bit)



Tossed everything into the frying pan and proceeded to cut up some chicken breast



Tossed the chicken breast into another frying pan (without any spices or seasoning) and put teriyaki sauce all over the vegetables, mixed it in and let it keep frying



Next step was to add the chicken breast to the vegetable stir fry and mix the whole thing together, allowing the chicken breast to also soak up and absorb the teriyaki



Final step was to put it all on a plate, and enjoy!



Conclusions: Chicken came out perfect, with just the right amount of taste. The stir fry tasted okay but it was kinda soggy. I think next time I make it I'm going to put the cauliflower into the microwave for a little less, and also toss it into the frying pan sometime after the rest of the vegetables but before the chicken. I also think that next time I may put the end result into a bowl and try with chopsticks instead of a plate with fork and knife.

[USSWisconsin]

I normally cook it all in the same pan; meat and onions together first - veggies go in last in order of softness - hard ones first like the potatoes, before the meat is brown, peppers can be browned or crisp depends on your style, califlower is good still crisp so not too long in the pan, the tomatos barely need to be cooked at all they would go in a couple min before it was done. Just my take - it looks delicious as it is.

[Gun Grape]

Girlfriend wasn't over, so I did what any normal college student with a job, final papers and exams coming up does.

Go to the market and pick up a girl to cook for the both of you.

cook

Wow this new generation. Just can't understand them

I went to the supermarket and decided to randomly pick up vegetables and make a stir fry.

There were no hot girls shopping alone at this market? Split a buggy, go back to her place and cook.

Conclusions: Chicken came out perfect, with just the right amount of taste. The stir fry tasted okay but it was kinda soggy.

Ditch the tomatoes. Or put them in early. They are full of water. Or add them after you put it on the plate.

Other than than looking good.

[Bigfella]

I cook stir fry most weeks. There is some good advice here.

I normally cook it all in the same pan; meat and onions together first - veggies go in last in order of softness - hard ones first like the potatoes, before the meat is brown, peppers can be browned or crisp depends on your style, califlower is good still crisp so not too long in the pan, the tomatos barely need to be cooked at all they would go in a couple min before it was done. Just my take - it looks delicious as it is.

It sorta depends on what sort of pan you have. I am lucky enough to have a wok, so I crank up the heat, throw in the harder stuff first (carrot, cauli), then meat, then stuff like snow peas & broccoli, then capsicum, mushrooms last. I also throw in ginger, garlic & chilli at first with a bit of oil. Once things are cooking a dash of rice wine, soy sause and/or oyster sauce go well too. Keep the heat high & the food constantly moving

Ditch the tomatoes. Or put them in early. They are full of water. Or add them after you put it on the plate.

Agree. Stuff like tomatoes & potato don't work that well in stir fry. On the other hand, if you go for Indian balti style cooking they will fit better.

I'm doing a big 'Straya Day stir fry wiht some kangaroo & Emu meat tommorrow. I will post photos of the whole process.

[Bigfella]

'Straya Day Feast pt.1 - Man Eating Crocodile

I'm going all out this week to bring you folk some real Aussie treats - which means the diet is taking a week off. A few weeks back I showed you some Aussie meat. Here is some more - a Croc burger. Damned yummy. Bit like chicken, but damned nice.



Got the croc in yet another visit to the Queen Victoria market Night Market. So much new food there. This is from the more 'Nepalese' region of Australia....Ok, strictly speaking not Australian, but you gotta take opportunities as they arise. Having already had the croc I only wanted a small feed, so this yummy looking chicken will have to wait.



Instead I tried the lamb dumplings. Quite a Chinese-influenced dish in terms of the dumplings, though I don't see much lamb on Chinese menus. Loved them

[Bigfella]

'Straya Day Feast pt.2 - putting the 'Asia' in Australiasia

Having a small population, a short history & not a lot of native ingredients which have proves easy to grow commercially Australia hasn't produced nearly as many original dishes as places like the US. I'm going to bring you a few over the next few days.

Before pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, KFC & other essentially 'American' fast food became commonplace in Australia & long before there were many restraunts offering a variety of cuisines as takeaway the main sources of takeaway food were the very English fish & chips and a horribly adapted version of Chinese food. The Chinese was a hangover from the gold rushes of the C19th when Chinese flooded into Australia. Some stayed, especially in Melbourne (the main gold rush was north of here) and Sydney, though the white Australia policy after Federation cut those communities off from their origins. As a kid I remember fish & chips and chinese food as a particular treat.

This meal combines those two traditions. OK, there is no fish. I don't like fish. Most fish here is flake (shark) and it does nothing for me. Instead I usually have chip & a 'battered sav', which is basically a hot dog in batter. Some people put salt or salt & vinegar on their fish & chips. I perefer lemon juice. The asian influence here are the two 'dim sims' and the Chiko roll. Both are melbourne inventions.

The Dim Sims are basically chinese pork & cabbage dumplings on steroids. They were invented in melbourne in 1945 by William Wing Young and are served fried or steamed & oftgen with soy sauce. The Chiko roll was invented by a fellow who saw a Chinese vendor selling chop suey rolls at the football & decided to adapt them. They are made of beef, celery, cabbage, barley, carrot, corn, onion, green beans, and spices in a tube of egg, flour and dough. The pastry was deliberately made more robust than chinese rolls so it could be held & eaten at football games. During the 60s & 70s 40million of these were sold a year (to a population of 10 million people!). Oddly enough this was the first time I have eaten either. The Dim Sims were nice - very Chinese. The Chiko Roll was less impressive, but still edible.





I have more Australian food on the way, but for today I'm full.

[bigross86]

Go to the market and pick up a girl to cook for the both of you.

Dude, you never ever piss off the lady who has direct access to your nether regions, that can only end bad

Wow this new generation. Just can't understand them

What can I do, I live on my own and have been for a while. At first it was cooking to survive, now I enjoy cooking

There were no hot girls shopping alone at this market? Split a buggy, go back to her place and cook.

See above

Ditch the tomatoes. Or put them in early. They are full of water. Or add them after you put it on the plate.

Yeah, I was considering ditching them, the taste they add is really masked by the teriyaki, anyway.

Other than than looking good.

Thankx!

[bigross86]

IIt sorta depends on what sort of pan you have. I am lucky enough to have a wok, so I crank up the heat, throw in the harder stuff first (carrot, cauli), then meat, then stuff like snow peas & broccoli, then capsicum, mushrooms last. I also throw in ginger, garlic & chilli at first with a bit of oil. Once things are cooking a dash of rice wine, soy sause and/or oyster sauce go well too. Keep the heat high & the food constantly moving

I wish I had a wok, but I only got into the stir fry thing recently. I used to be more of a lazy, frozen supermarket burgers kinda guy. I may invest in a decent wok at some point. My main point of confusion is the cauliflower. When I asked my mom how to cook the cauliflower, she said nuke it with a drop of water for a coupla minutes to soften it up. Online I saw people advocating both that and tossing it straight into the frying pan. I decided to go with my mom's way, and it came out kinda soggy. How do you do the cauliflower? Do you nuke it first, or toss it straight in?

Agree. Stuff like tomatoes & potato don't work that well in stir fry. On the other hand, if you go for Indian balti style cooking they will fit better.

The tomato you're right, but the sweet potato actually came out pretty decent. It was also soggy, but not TOO soggy, so the timing on that is almost right. Plus, I feel that the sweet potato and the teriyaki really complimented each other, taste-wise.

I noticed that a) I prefer the teriyaki over soy sauce, and b), it's a really strong taste, so many things that would normally contribute their own taste, like the green peppers, cauliflower and onion were all absorbed and overpowered by the teriyaki. That being said, I still think I'd rather have all the vegetables tasting like teriyaki as opposed to each adding their individual taste.

[dave lukins]

How do you do the cauliflower? Do you nuke it first, or toss it straight in?

Break it into its florets and steam. Add to the main food just before serving. Try oyster sauce for a change.

[Bigfella]

I wish I had a wok, but I only got into the stir fry thing recently. I used to be more of a lazy, frozen supermarket burgers kinda guy. I may invest in a decent wok at some point.

I have the advantage of living next to a large asian shopping strip, so every second shop sells woks. The steel ones are pretty cheap and I would recommend one of those ahead of a more expensive teflon coated jobbie. You need to use a little oil, but you can jack up the heat (looks like you have gas burners...that is good). Give me a shout if you plan to get one I'll give you a few tips on purchase & maintenance. I killed my first wok because I didn't know how to treat it right.

My main point of confusion is the cauliflower. When I asked my mom how to cook the cauliflower, she said nuke it with a drop of water for a coupla minutes to soften it up. Online I saw people advocating both that and tossing it straight into the frying pan. I decided to go with my mom's way, and it came out kinda soggy. How do you do the cauliflower? Do you nuke it first, or toss it straight in?

I'll give you my sequence: heat up the wok/pan; put in some oil & let it get hot; throw in ginger & chilli; throw in garlic; throw in hardest veggies - cauli & carrot to cook a little; then stuff like broccoli, snow peas & beans...cook a little; then the meat - brown it a bit in the middle of the pan & then mix it in with veggies; capsicum; mushrooms at the very end.

Give that a try. I have the advantage of being able to cook quickly on high heat, however. If that doesn't cut it then nuking the cauli & throwing it in late should work fine.

The tomato you're right, but the sweet potato actually came out pretty decent. It was also soggy, but not TOO soggy, so the timing on that is almost right. Plus, I feel that the sweet potato and the teriyaki really complimented each other, taste-wise.

Fair enough. If it works for you then go for it.

I noticed that a) I prefer the teriyaki over soy sauce, and b), it's a really strong taste, so many things that would normally contribute their own taste, like the green peppers, cauliflower and onion were all absorbed and overpowered by the teriyaki. That being said, I still think I'd rather have all the vegetables tasting like teriyaki as opposed to each adding their individual taste.

Fair enough. Also consider a bit of rice wine. The alcohol burns off quickly & it has a bit of sweetness that balances soy or teriyaki. Also remember that too much of any liquid drops the heat in the pan & can end up 'stewing' the veggies, so make sure the hard stuff hass cooked OK & the meat is either already cooked or the pan has time to heat up properly before it goes in. Also be aware that liquid can make the pan 'sticky' once the water burns off. I tend to put them in after most of the cooking is done.

Good luck! :)

[Parihaka]

I celebrated Australia day by eating a MacD kiwiburger. Lamb, beetroot, fried egg, mayonaise, fried onions and coleslaw. My children, who prefer the chicken mcnuggets, that is the reprocessed offal scraped off the killing room floor, pronounced the sight of me eating said burger "disgusting". Oh, and bacon. Did I mention the bacon?

[Bigfella]

I celebrated Australia day by eating a MacD kiwiburger. Lamb, beetroot, fried egg, mayonaise, fried onions and coleslaw. My children, who prefer the chicken mcnuggets, that is the reprocessed offal scraped off the killing room floor, pronounced the sight of me eating said burger "disgusting". Oh, and bacon. Did I mention the bacon?

So no actual Kiwi in the Kiwiburger hmmmmm. Our 'crocburgers' have croc in them & our 'rooburgers' have roo in them. Sounds a bit like the clown who decided that breaking an egg in the middle of a ham-covered pizza made it 'Aussie'. Might as well call the nuggets 'kiwinuggets', at least both are bird.

Now, I'm off to stir fry some kangaroo & Emu.

(oh, and thanks for no photo, Maccas does nothing for my appetite).

[Bigfella]

Any Australian who grew up here in the 60s, 70s or 80s most likely suffered through years of a terrible kids TV show called 'Skippy' - think 'Flipper' with a kangaroo. Storylines revolved around an irritating young boy & his pet/friend female kangaroo (they had to pick a female so it would have a pouch). The TV show became so identified with Australia that new migrants took to calling white Australians 'skips'.

There were a number of 'cheats' in the show to make it better TV. Kangaroos don't use their front pws much, and it is hard to train them to pick up stuff. Instead close up shots using a pair of paws from a dead kangaroo were used. By far the most irritating was the ability of the kangaroo to 'talk'. Kangaroos have a range of verbal communications from a coughing sound to almost birdlike sounds. None of these fitted the show, so they made up a fake noise. With a few noises skippy could communicate volumes of Proust:

Sonny: what's that skip?
Skippy: fake kangaroo noise
Sonny: Did you say there is a 6ft man of medium build & caucasian appearance wearing jeans & a shirt trapped in the creek precisely 6 miles north east of here skip?
Skippy: fake kangaroo noise
Sonny: ...and he seems to be speaking an obscure northern European dialect - possibly Old Frisian?
Skippy: fake kangaroo noise
Sonny: I don't think this is the time for a critique of Cartesian Dualism skip, lets go rescue the man in the creek.

Ok, slight exaggeration....but not as much as you might think.

Anyway, I HATED skippy, so I regularly take my revenge by eating roo.

Kangaroo is plentiful, lean & yummy. While the proess of turning it into metwurst tends to take away some of the distinctive flavour it still tastes damned fine. Took some of this to work - a few folk refused to eat it, most jumped right in.



Coat of arms on a plate. The very dark meat on the left is Emu (ridiculously expensive) and the meat on the right is roo (plentiful & cheap)

[Bigfella]

'Straya Day Feast pt.3 - The Gathering of the ingredients

Some more distinctively Australia delicacies.

Arnotts is an Australian biscuit company that started up in 1865. I could have chosen any number of its fine products, but the Tim Tam is probably the most popular. Two chocolate biscuits with a layer of chocolate in the middle & chocolate covering the lot - hard to beat.

ANZAC biscuits are are made of rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda, boiling water and optionally desiccated coconut. According to legand they were made in Australia & New Zealand to send to the troops at Gallipoli & later Europe. The ingredients were chosen because they would travel well. The truth is probably less prosaic, but they did appear during WW1. They remain a firm favourite & most grandmothers of a certain age would have had their own version of the recipie.



Some more Aussie snacks.

Macadamia nuts originated in Queensland (though few people seem to know this).

Vegemite is a spread made using left over yeast from brewing beer. it is based on english Marmite, but has a distinctive taste. Opiion tends to be sharply divided, but most Australian will go to great lengths to get vegemite & it is usually at the top of the list of things expats ask for from home.

Some kangaroo salami.

Smoked cheese from King Island, a large island between Victoria & Tasmania known for its fine dairy products.

Australia shaped Arnotts 'Shapes'. Once again Tasmania is forgotten - they have quite a complex about this.



Desert Oz style (apologies for missing pavlova, but they are big & full of sugar - there are limits to this exercise ;))

Choc coated macadamias.

Tim Tams & ANZAC biscuits.

A Lamington. These consist of a piece of sponge cake dipped in chocolate & then dessicated coconut. The jam inside is optional, but delicious. Ideally a Lamington should be moist & firm. Yum!