Category: lunch

Indian #Thali and Sweets at #Maya Indian Sweets, #Sydney

Indian vegetarian Thali at Maya Indian Sweets on Cleveland St, Surry Hills has been a favourite comfort food spot for our family for years. As well as the famous Indian Sweets on offer, Maya offers dhosas and Thalis.

A few weeks ago on an unseasonably chilly day, when the “kids” were visiting us from Canberra, we went for Sunday lunch.

Thali means “chain” and refer to the chain of small dishes served on a tray with rice, bread, pickle and papadums. The restaurant is primarily an Indian take-away sweet shop but eating in is cheap and cheerful.

They also have traditional Indian street food snacks such as samosas, aloo boonda, chaat and vhada as starters.

At Maya Sweets you can choose from a number of Thali versions including either a South Indian or Punjabi version…the first comes with Rasam (South Indian tamarinds and pepper water soup) and Poori bread and the second with a bean dhal and naan bread.

Both are just as satisfying the variety of vegetable curries and dhals that are on offer depends on the season. They are consistently good and very filling.

This visit we also shared the Vhada which are fluffy Urad Dhal fritters served with coconut chutney and a tangy sambar on the side which were delicious.

Finishing the meal with an Indian sweet is always tempting and there is a very wide range to choose from….but we managed to resist.

Consistently good food. Doesn’t open until midday so brunch is sadly not an option. There a number of other more formal Maya restaurants including a vegetarian restaurant next door and a non-veg across the road. So make sure you fo to the right one if you are looking for the street food and Thalis.

Maya Indian Sweets

468-472 Cleveland St

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Ripping good lunch at #Ripponlea Food and Wine, #melbourne

Ripponlea Food and Wine is one of our favourite Sunday lunch restaurants in Melbourne. With its Art Deco inspired style, beautiful emerald green velvet booths and brushed metal fixtures it oozes a classy style without being too formal or fancy.

The revitalised menu is similarly inviting featuring a range of small and large sharing plates and fabulous desserts. Nothing too fancy, comfort food with a modern twist. Great, friendly service and a good wine list and interesting cocktails.

Lunch today was absolutely perfect, hitting the spot with a delicious combination of flavours and textures, beautifully put together and nothing too heavy or rich. A lovely lunch to end our quick overnight trip to Melbourne.

Pan tossed calamari with chilli, garlic & rosé, fresh chives, and Pan tossed calamari with chilli, garlic & rosé, fresh chives and charred lemon

Smoked cauliflower steak, macadamia hummus, orange, kale crisp.

Barramundi crispy skin, beurre noisette, lemon, mixed leaves;

4 point lamb rack, pistachio & herb crust, cauliflower puree

Zucchini ribbon & heirloom radish salad, chilli, lemon, basil, marinated goats feta & pine nuts

Passionfruit curd tart, ruby chocolate mousse, freeze dried raspberry, bitter chocolate

Nutella flavoured with orange, hazelnut crumb, divine tasting foam and toasted pannetone

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#Sweet.. #Cannelini Beans and #Peas

A delicious quick braise with garlic, onions, tomato, olive oil, white wine, lots of black pepper, a can of cannelini beans, some peas, a sprinkling of salt and parsley.

A tasty side and great as an accompaniment if you are trying to cut down carbs but want something a bit susbstantial!

Went well with roasted Brussel sprout and spinach salad.

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#Stellar Chicken Marabella, #chicken

Yottam Ottolenghi’s newest cookbook Simple has some great recipes but sometimes not so simple in terms of quickly getting some of the specialist ingredients which might not be in your pantry.

However I have found that they are simple enough to understand the flavours being created and to play around with them using ingredients on hand to still create delicious meals.

For example his chicken marabella recipe calls for date molasses and dates….I substituted dried apricots and pomegranate molasses which I had in the cupboard which worked well.

The chicken can be marinated overnight to develop the flavours more and or just for 15 minutes.

The quantities can also easily be adapted if you are cooking for more than 2…or if you want to serve as part of a buffet shared style meal.

Prep time: 10 minutes Marinating time(optional): 15 mins-12hrs
Cooking time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2 chicken Marylands skin on (thigh and drumstick still joined)
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of fresh picked oregano leaves
2 tbspoons red wine vinegar
2 tbspoons olive oil
50g pitted green olives
2 teaspoons capers and 1 tbspoon of their juice
3 tbspoons chopped dried apricots (about 100g)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup white wine
Salt and black pepper
Oregano leaves to garnish

Method

1. Score each piece of chicken 3 or 4 times to the bone.

2. Place in a bowl and add all the ingredients except the wine and molasses and gently mix along with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a grind of black pepper

3. Marinate for as long as you can …overnight if possible but not essential

4. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius in fan forced oven

5. Spread the chicken on a high sided snug baking dish that allows the marinade to surround chicken. Whisk together the wine and molasses and pour over chicken. (I lined my baking dish with baking paper to prevent the marinade from creating too much of a mess to clean up!)

6. Cook chicken in oven for 45 minutes, basting a few times through cooking process. You want the chicken to get golden brown and be cooked until juices run clear.

7. Sprinkle generously with fresh oregano leaves to garnish.

Serve with salad and accompaniments of your choice, goes well with cous cous lr with crusty bread as the sauce created with the marinade and chicken juices is delicious.

Serves 2

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The legend of “Avocado Picasso”, #Miros, #Ubud

The Avocado Picasso salad at Miro’s Garden Restaurant has reached legendary status in our family due to the fact that it is only available on the menu during the avocado season in Ubud and none of us have been able to try it despite very numerous visits to this Ubudian dining institution over many years.

It doesn’t help that the definition of the “season” for avocados in Bali is a little bit vague, with most sources claiming it is between August and November when it is drier here. It has unfortunately been more unusual for us to be visiting here during those months due to work commitments at this time of the year. Hence, the availability of the Avocado Picasso to us at Miro’s has been scarce.

Somehow this time, despite it being late January, we lucked in. Holding our breath we asked the gorgeous Balinese waiter if it was “on” and we were delighted to hear it was! (We actually immediately messaged our family back in Australia to alert them to it’s existence!)

The simple description on the Miro’s menu “Avocado salad with Balinese Spices” belies the delicious flavours and presentation of the actual dish. The colours are indeed evocative of an abstract Picasso painting.

Delicious creamy avocado combined with tomatoes, lettuce, a sprinkle of parsley and crunchy fried shallots, drizzled with the most delicious dressing of young fresh coconut milk mixed with a touch of Balinese Bumbu(spice mix). It must be the complexity and sophistication of Miro’s Bumbu that adds a touch of Balinese magic into this salad.

I am definitely going to try to recreate it at home so that we can keep the legend alive outside of the Avocado season in Bali.

I am not sure if the Avocado Picasso at Miro’s was inspired by the lyrics in Modern Lovers song “Pablo Picasso” (later sung by David Bowie) but I know in our case there a few family members turning the colour of an avocado because we got to Miro’s for this divine salad first!

“Well the girls would turn the color
Of the avocado when he would drive
Down their street in his El Dorado
He could walk down your street
And girls could not resist his stare”

Modern Lovers, Pablo Picasso 1976

We teamed up the Salad with the consistently great Corn Fritters and Ayam Goreng for a lovely dinner in the beautiful traditional Balinese house compound and garden setting of Miro’s which has been in the same family for five generations. If in Ubud then it’s a wonderful place to enjoy lunch or dinner and a great favourite with travellers from far and wide. I just hope you get to try the Avocado Picasso when you visit!

Miro’s Garden Restaurant is on the corner of Jalan Raya Ubud(Main Street) and Jalan Bisma. http://mirosgardenrestaurantubud.blogspot.com/?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral

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Tasty, Thai Thali, #Penastanan, #ubud

We are staying in a Villa in Penastanan Village just outside of Ubud for a few weeks.

Of course, Ubud is filled to the brim with great restaurants, but sometimes when we are feeling particularly lazy on our holidays we love being able to just wander up the path to a local Warung in our neighbourhood. Penastanan is blessed with many of these.

And now we have Thai Thali to add to the list! Just 3 days ago the newly refreshed and branded Thai Thali Warung had sprung open. (Felt like it appeared overnight!) it is just down the lane (gang) behind the D’Omah/Wayan Juice shop off Jalan Penastanan Kelod. Look/ask for the directions to Gajah Biru Villas and Spa and you will find it opposite there. Here’s a map with my rudimentary markings!

We had also snuck in for a quick lunch the other day and tried items from their Indian vegetarian light meals menu. Their Puri (puffy fried Indian bread) and Alu Prantha (Indian bread stuffed with lightly spiced potato mixture) both served with Raita and pickle were tasty and filling.

Last night we tried their Thai offerings and were even more impressed by the authenticity of the cooking. The use of fresh herbs such as lemongrass, basil, galangal and kaffir lime leaves made the Gang Knew Wan Gai (green chicken curry) and Gai Pad bai Khapoa( minced chicken with chilli and basil) taste like they had just come off the streets of Bangkok!

The green chicken curry even had baby pea eggplants that are such a trademark of green curries in Thailand. Of course it makes sense because all these ingredients are easy to find in Bali.

They also gave me extra chopped green chilli in fish sauce and lime juice (nam prik) which added the just extra chilli hit I was looking for! Around Mak Mak (very, very delicious)

The total meal including 2 large beers came to a total of IR170,000 (AUD17)! See below for photos of the menu.

With a menu that focuses on simple but tasty Thai and Indian favourites, we can see this new Warung joining the list of new favourites for a quick and cheap as chips meals.

They don’t have a website yet so I have included some photos of the menu below.

And, if they are so confident that you will like the food if there is something “legit”you don’t like then your meal will be in them!

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