Mixed Business, Clifton Hill

On the way to high noon festival, we stopped by for a late lunch at Mixed business. I was predicting that the festival will be too crowded to enjoy and digest food properly, and I was pleased with my decision.
I ordered a sweet option from the menu, which is a bit unusual, but, hey its a special day :)
besides, who can resist gingerbread waffles with candied walnuts, and vanilla bean ice cream?
The waffles has a right topping waffle ratio, so I didn't end up with sad pieces of cold soggy waffles.
By the way, they are not cold and soggy at all, they were 2 pieces of crunchy-on-the-outside fluffy-on-the-inside- kind of waffle. The vanilla bean ice cream was lovely, rich, smooth, and I could see tiny vanilla seeds in the ice cream.
I would definitely come back for more brunch goodness, and for the gingerbread waffles.

Mixed Business,
486 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill

Avocado chocolate cake (egg free)

This is the recipe that screams healthy food! but doesn't actually taste that way.
First of all, this cake incorporate avocado, the buttery creamy avocado replaced the role of butter in a cake.
You could leave out the chocolate chip and make this into a vegan and dairy free cake, you could also replace it with cacao nibs.
If you're gluten intolerance, you could also swap the flour with gluten free flour, just adjust the liquid content, or just add more avocado.
I've got the original recipe from here, I just tweaked it a bit, since I've never add vinegar into any cake ever, i just don't want to risk it.
I also leave out the avocado oil, I figure it's only two tbsp worth of entire batter,don't think it will affect the texture too much.

My photo doesn't do justice, this cake tasted better than it looks like. trust me.

180 g flour or a bit more than 1 cup of flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
110 g raw caster sugar
60 g ground walnuts or hazelnuts or almonds or dessicated coconut if you're allergic to nuts
1 small avocado, or 1/2 large avocado
1 cup water (you could add more if the mixture a bit dry)
1 tsp vanilla extract (not vanilla essence)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chip or 1/4 cup cocoa nibs

preheat oven 180 degree, and line baking tray with baking paper
mix flour, ground nuts, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt
blend avocado and vanilla extract in a food processor
you could also mash it, but you will end up with bits of green avocado in your cake
add water to avocado, stir or pulse it again
mix wet to dry ingredients
don't overbeat or you will develop the gluten in the flour and the cake will become tough
fold chocolate chip into the batter
pour the batter into cake tin and bake for 25 min
test with a skewer, if ti comes out clean, then it's done

green pasta

a few weeks ago, I bought a packet of dried spinach fetuccini, when I cooked it, it leeched scary looking fluorescent-green colour in the cooking water. They must have been packed full with green food colouring. I vowed to never buy that pasta again.

Last week, I picked up the same pasta! exactly. the. same. one. :(
Anyway, this recipe reminded me of my stupidity, well maybe its the silver lining on my stupidity cloud.
No exact measurement, as this is a midweek-quick pasta dinner type of food.
Here it goes :
2 cups of cooked spiral pasta (fussili i think it's called?)
1 bunch spinach
1 handful of dill
2 tbsp grated parmesan (add more if you want, more cheese always better)
2 egg yolks
1 cup chopped broccoli, steamed or boiled
2 slices of brie or feta cheese diced
olive oil
chilli flakes

place egg yolks and parmesan in a food processor
blanch spinach and dill in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and squeeze all the water out with tongs
put the spinach mixture in the food processor, blitz, taste and season with salt and pepper
toss with hot pasta and chopped broccoli, topped with brie
drizzle with olive oil, and add chilli flakes

I purposely leave out garlic in the recipe, just because I hate sleeping with garlic breath, it doesn't matter how hard I brush my teeth, I could still taste it in the morning. yuck.
But, if you're a garlic fan, pop 1 clove of garlic in the food processor.

aaah, much better than the fluorescent green pasta :)

it took me five years, but I finally love you, Vegemite

First time I had a taste of vegemite was five years ago, straight from the jar (belong to my ex-housemate), with a teaspoon.
my thought was, revolting.
second time, in a scroll from bakers delight, couldn't finish the whole scroll, but I manage to squeeze a few bites-full.
third time, in a scroll form again,this time from coles supermarket, it had smaller vegemite to bread ratio, I finished the whole thing! Maybe I was hungry, or maybe I just started to warmed up to this yeasty jar of brown paste.
next thing I know, I bought a small jar of it.
Now it's a part of my breakfast repertoire,slathered on wholemeal toast, with avocado, rocket leaves, and lemon juice. YUM!
oh yeah, and a cup of soy latte. perfect.
Strangely, now I thought it taste a bit like parmesan cheese.
I'm glad I was persistent.

Off for a few weeks & best salad recipe

Next Saturday, I will be stretching myself and my brain at intensive yoga course.
Excited, but a bit nervous as well, because this will be the first time I travelled alone, I know, it's not that far away, but still..

After that, I will fly home to visit family , friends, and my golden retriever.
Should be good, I just need to keep myself healthy.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I made this pomegranate and haloumi salad. You must try it, it's seriously good, and try not to change the recipe, it's perfect as it is.

Bubur "ayam" (vegetarian "chicken" congee)

I'm having a massive homesickness syndrome.
One of the symptom is sudden craving to food from home.
I used to have this rice congee for breakfast, from a food stall near my house. We just need to bring our own crockery, and ate them in the comfort of our dining table. No need to balance on a tiny wooden stool.
Well, there's hardly a recipe, I just made it up as I go, it had quite a lot of elements though (masterchef-y language - "elements"), to simplify the assembly of the dish, just put all the elements on tiny plates, so people can help themselves.

rice congee :
2 cups vegie stock (or water + 1/2 cube of vegie buillon)
1 cup cooked rice (I used leftover rice, or 1/2 cup uncooked)

braised wom bok :
2 cups wombok, shredded
sriracha sauce
2 drops of sesame oil

Stir fry tofu :
1/2 pack of firm tofu (if you want dryer texture, freeze the tofu, thaw, and squeeze the excess liquid)
1/2 cup mushroom
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp tamari
salt and pepper to taste

toppings (optional, but highly recommended):
kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds, toasted
chopped parsley
sriracha sauce

how to :
bring the stock to the boil in a pot, and add the rice, bring it to boil and stir to prevent the rice grain from sticking and burning.
Turn down the heat, and simmer for 30-40 min, until the texture is silky and smooth, and the grains are broken down.
in frying pan, heat oil, add wombok, stir for 30 seconds, add a splash of water, and cover to wilt them.
while waiting the congee and wombok to cook, sliced the tofu into tiny batons (or matchsticks), slice the garlic and the 'shrooms.
uncover the wombok, add sriracha sauce a tiny bit at a time (this sauce is sooo hot!!), add sesame oil. stir, for a few minutes, until completety wilted and transparent.
transfer to a plate. Don't wash the pan yet, we'll use it for the tofu.
Don't forget to stir the congee at this point!!
heat up 1 tsp of oil in the frypan, fry the tofu and mushrooms, add garlic, salt and pepper.
after the tofu looked nice and golden, add tamari.
transfer the tofu to another plate.
after the congee looked silky and smooth, ladle to a bowl.
add wom bok, tofu, and sprinkle with almonds, and parsley, drizzle with a bit of kecap manis, and sriracha.
eat s l o w l y...

vegetarian gyoza

Really more-ish gyoza!

Ingredients :
150 g tofu (approximately, I just use about 1/3rd of 1 pack of dried tofu)
1/3 cup of kimchi (depends on how spicy your kimchi is, start with less, you could always add more)
1 pack of gyoza skin, it's really important to get the right gyoza skin, the round white ones, not the yellow square ones.
a few drops of sesame oil
a pinch of salt
olive oil / coconut oil for frying

blitz everything -except the gyoza skin- in a small food processor
put 1 tsp of filling in the middle of wrapper, wet the rim, and fold the gyoza, you could do basic half circle, or fan shaped ones
when you're down to your last 3 wrapping job to do, heat 1 tsp oil in a frying pan
pan fry the gyoza for 3o seconds, or until the skin turns golden and a bit crunchy
flip the gyoza, and add 1/4 cup of water
watch out, the pan might sizzle, cover the pan, to let the steam cooked the filling for 1 - 2 minutes
take the lid of the pan to let the steam out and the gyoza to dry up a bit
transfer to plate

Here, I serve my gyoza with a side of soba noodles and diced avocado.
Simple side, to let the gyoza shine, they are the star anyway :)