What Food Are You Eating?

[Bigfella]

'Straya Day Feast pt.4 - Coat of Arms Stir Fry

OK, time for the main atraction.

Last night I cut up & marinaded the meat. This not only imparts flavour, it means that it will last in the fridge a few days while I cook it all up. The marinade is: Korean hot fermented bean paste mixed in some hot water, red wine; rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic & sesame oil.



Next the vegies. Normally I'd use less, but I wanted to get a good variety in: black & orange carrot, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, broccoli, capsicum, Roo salami, garlic, ginger & 2 chillies, a big one for colour & a small one for heat (I also put mushrooms in later...but I forgot it at this stage). I threw some cashews in as well.



The trusty wok hard at work. I tried to get a shot of this catching fire when I put in the rice wine, but it is hard to capture the exact moment...I'll keep trying.



The finished product with some beer. One is brewed across the river in the suburb where I work. It is also the home of my football team - the Mighty Hawks! The other is from Beechworth - near where I gree up - and has a representation of Ned Kelly (well, his armour), Australia's most famous 'bushranger' & onetime resident of Beechworth Gaol.

[Bigfella]

'Straya Day Feast finale' - the whole shebang

The whole feast (I didn't eat it all...but I did eat too much...gonna skip dinner tonight :insane:)

[bigross86]

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.

Tim Tams are one of God's greatest gifts to mankind. Of course, everybody knows the only real way to eat a Tim Tam is the Tim Tam Slam: Bite off opposite corners of the Tim Tam, submerge one end in milk and suck through the other corner. Heavenly!

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.

These things are horrible and I wouldn't eat them unless I was trapped on a deserted island and had already eaten everyone else that was on the island with me...

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.

I'd always heard of and been warned about this "Vegemite", but never knew what it was. Kinda like the boogie-man parents scare their kids with. About a week before I flew to New Zealand I went drinking with some friends and wound up crashing at an Australian lass I had met that was living in Jerusalem. When she heard that I was traveling to New Zealand, she and the other two Aussies she was sharing the flat with decided I absolutely MUST have some. She comes back with this massive JAR of Vegemite and sticks the jar up my nose. Dear good Lord, I nearly upchucked just from smelling that swine slop. I tasted it when I was in New Zealand, it was horrible.

To make matters worse, my step dad is South African and is crazy about the Marmite. I honestly think something is wrong with all of you that used to actually be a part of the Commonwealth, it rots your brains. Thank goodness we were only under British Mandate here and not actually a part of the Commonwealth, I'd be a Vegemite or Marmite lover like the rest of you!

[dave lukins]

To make matters worse, my step dad is South African and is crazy about the Marmite. I honestly think something is wrong with all of you that used to actually be a part of the Commonwealth, it rots your brains. Thank goodness we were only under British Mandate here and not actually a part of the Commonwealth, I'd be a Vegemite or Marmite lover like the rest of you!

I am addicted to Marmite. I get the shakes if I don't have a marmite buttie at least six days a week. Mix it with gravy for that extra punch without the taste.:)

[Parihaka]

I am addicted to Marmite. I get the shakes if I don't have a marmite buttie at least six days a week. Mix it with gravy for that extra punch without the taste.:)

Speak not unto Ben, for god hath rendered him tasteless

[Bigfella]

Speak not unto Ben, for god hath rendered him tasteless

Indeed brother Parihaka. Not only doth Ben proclaim his lust for the 'devil's urine' (xxxx beer), but he rejecteh ambrosia (yeast spreads). He is truly a heathen soul worthy only of pity.

[Bigfella]

Tim Tams are one of God's greatest gifts to mankind. Of course, everybody knows the only real way to eat a Tim Tam is the Tim Tam Slam: Bite off opposite corners of the Tim Tam, submerge one end in milk and suck through the other corner. Heavenly!

Not really a milk person, but I am told that is pretty yummy.

These things are horrible and I wouldn't eat them unless I was trapped on a deserted island and had already eaten everyone else that was on the island with me...

You earned points on the Tim Tam & then blew them all by insulting everyone in Australasia with a grandma who liked to bake biscuits (which is all of them if you are white). I'm pretty sure that when Howard was PM publically admitting you didn't like ANZAC biscuits was grounds for deportation.

I'd always heard of and been warned about this "Vegemite", but never knew what it was. Kinda like the boogie-man parents scare their kids with. About a week before I flew to New Zealand I went drinking with some friends and wound up crashing at an Australian lass I had met that was living in Jerusalem. When she heard that I was traveling to New Zealand, she and the other two Aussies she was sharing the flat with decided I absolutely MUST have some. She comes back with this massive JAR of Vegemite and sticks the jar up my nose. Dear good Lord, I nearly upchucked just from smelling that swine slop. I tasted it when I was in New Zealand, it was horrible.

Yeah, you would definately have been on the first plane out if the authorities had found out. Way to burn Australia BR. Communist!

To make matters worse, my step dad is South African and is crazy about the Marmite. I honestly think something is wrong with all of you that used to actually be a part of the Commonwealth, it rots your brains. Thank goodness we were only under British Mandate here and not actually a part of the Commonwealth, I'd be a Vegemite or Marmite lover like the rest of you!

If you'd been part of the Commonwealth you'd have a mean cricket team instead of a second rate football team. I've seen jewish teams play in Melbourne - there is nothing like a big red headed hasidic jew complete wiht beard, skull cap & prayer shawl poking ur below steaming in to bowl at full pace to put the fear of god into a fella. Unfortunately you'd have selection issues for the 5 day games.;) (Ajax always struggled in Grand finals - which were 2 day games over a weekend).

I think you can mark the decline of Israel fom the rejection of yeast-based spreads & cricket. it could all have been so different.

[bigross86]

Yeah, all that rubbish you just wrote is not worth commenting on, except for one thing: Sandy Koufax, one of baseball's best pitchers and the youngest person ever to be admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, refused to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur

[dave lukins]

Indeed brother Parihaka. Not only doth Ben proclaim his lust for the 'devil's urine' (xxxx beer), but he rejecteh ambrosia (yeast spreads). He is truly a heathen soul worthy only of pity.

Breakfast of Hullumi on toast and of course the ubiquitous ambrosia.

[Double Edge]

Don't feel restricted by the lack of photos & feel free to share stories past & present. You may have eaten something interesting or someone may post something that brings back memories.

ok, what dave said here...

Breakfast of Hullumi on toast

Reminded me of student days. I recently saw Haloumi in a shop here and was quite surprised. The one mediterranean ingredient i miss a lot in India is fresh olives. Hard to get and they only come in jars ie very salty. Only good for martinis.

There were two stand by meals when i was tired, overworked, skint, short on time and had to get something down.

- frozen chicken & veg, stuck on a plate and zapped in the microwave on full for 10 minutes. Sauce on top was a meal
- this tip i got from a german friend, bar of chocolate and a can of tuna as dip.

Taste is not important here, energy to keep going is what matters.

All washed down with lots of tea.

You're done inside a half hour, start to finish and ready.

[Albany Rifles]

Snowy day in Virginia....home alone.....chicken stock on the stove.

Yup, perfect day for Gumbo!!!!

[Double Edge]

Tips such as what spices are used is ideal for me.

If you're going Indian, the simplest thing you can do is get better chilli powder.

What you see in shops is a low grade that does not give a good colour and is harsh.

The thing to go for is powder made with what we call bedki chillies, gives a richer red colour and isn't as harsh. You might find chili powder cut with bedki, but pure is best. I think you might find sourcing that hard, but i'm sure its available. Any take out or restaurant will use only that.

Oh and to the Indian members living in Canada, why your mother or aunts don't send you back with home made & ground curry powders is a mystery to me.

[Double Edge]

Have heard..

..in Germany, bread isn't real bread unless you risk killing somebody if you threw it at them (!)

Naans are on one end, german bread is on the other extreme, its almost a meal in itself.

[Double Edge]

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.

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Not much of a biscuit person but i like ANZAC. We get these over here. Very competitively priced. I'm sure i've had oat meal cookies before but these were the best.

never heard of unibic but their selections are nice.

When i first saw the ANZAC name i thought some creative Indian company trying to sell foreign sounding products. And then grinning that they had to go back as far as WW1 to get the name.

Until i realised later it was actually an australian company selling biscuits made in india.

The trusty wok hard at work. I tried to get a shot of this catching fire when I put in the rice wine, but it is hard to capture the exact moment...I'll keep trying.

That's what i thought was missing. Make things easy for yourself, get the cell phone to do a video and just grab the right frame.

[dave lukins]

Chocolate and tuna dip? I have tried many obscure foods in my lifetime but that must be a first. After I muse over this for a while I may try it out, afterall I like chocolate and I like tuna. Excuse me while I talk myself into it...it's choc and it's fish so what could go wrong? I have the tuna but not the chocolate so I will have to wait until tomorrow. ;)