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Are blood oranges in season where you are? I’m loving them, even if I get a fright every time I cut into one.

Beautiful in salads and delicious to drink!

So who’s a naughty blogger then? (Can’t tell I have a young dog at home, can you?). Or at least an absent one? Yes, that’s me. I want to claim injury because this very experienced cook managed to burn herself quite badly. Note to self: turn the gas flame off before walking the dog .. and if not, use the oven mitt to pick up that pan.

Anyone tried texting with bandaged fingers?

On a brighter note I seem to have scored a little gig doing food reviews for the Freo Herald which is somewhat back to the future as I was doing these in 1993.

So, here we go: https://heraldonlinejournal.com/2020/08/21/thai-treat/

The Cooking From Home project has provided a great opportunity to share my own culinary heritage and to learn how to cook treasured recipes from others. I’ve made so many latkes (fried potato cakes) over the years that I could do them on my sleep; along with chicken soup and kneidlach they represent much of what I understand as Jewish life. Chicken soup is classic comfort food while for me, latkes, being a little fiddly and very messy to make, were a real treat.

I was thrilled to hear that after I’d cooked them for a trial run for CFH, our Malaysian cook Lay, had gone home and made a batch for her family – the joy of multiculturalism! Lay had made some superb curry puffs and gave each of us a little plastic device used to shape them, solving one of life’s mysteries for me. I’d be embarrassed to tell Lay the variety of left overs I have since made into puffs – if not always curry puffs!

But this delightful sharing got me thinking of one of my family’s favourite dishes: soya chicken. As good migrants do, my parents (Dad was South African while Mum had lived the first half of her life in England before emigrating to South Africa) befriended anyone who befriended them. My mother was an enthusiastic cook, happy to give most anything a go and to feed anyone who turned up at her table. Her mother-in-law famously commented: “Well, with Sheila quantity you will get”. Yes, Granny was a dragon who hadn’t set foot in the kitchen herself for decades. I will concede my mother was not a sophisticated cook, but she was a good cook, with a helluva repertoire – pressed tongue anyone?

Among Dad’s innumerable fishing buddies was the first ABC (Australian born Chinese) I ever met. Vince was a pharmacist and big game fisherman, while his wife Norma, who hailed from Hong Kong, was a fashion buyer for Grace Brothers and was the most glamorous person young Felicity had ever set eyes on.

So Norma must have cooked her amazing soya chicken for my folks and then shared the recipe. Unlike other soya chicken recipes I’ve seen since, where the chicken is marinated and then baked in the oven, this recipe creates a sticky black molten sauce the chicken is cooked in. Mum always cooked the chicken whole, as Norma would have done but I usually use chicken pieces so there’s more of that lovely sauce coating it.

But the point is that you put a whole clove of garlic in the mixture, so thanks to lovely Norma, garlic finally appeared in my mother’s kitchen – oh happy day. Don’t be shocked, we’re probably talking 1965/66 and Mum was making curries with Keen’s curry powder and sultanas!

I can’t call this a recipe because I do just splash in my quantities – but it will work regardless.

Norma’s/Mum’s/My Soya Chicken

In a large pot bring to the boil:

1 cup soy sauce

½ cup vegetable oil (not olive oil)

¼ cup honey

1 large peeled clove of garlic.

When it has started to boil a froth will form on the top and you want to keep it hot enough to keep that going.

I put the pieces in and cook, keeping the mixture frothing but not boiling over, for 20 minutes.

If you decide to do the whole chicken give it 20 minutes on front back and each side. Fab with rice and a little stir fried veg of course but very good served cold the next day. I generally just make this recipe with a kilo of chicken legs.

These days I only use Kikkoman soya or GF teriyaki if cooking for GF friends but that very cheap Chinese soya sauce will provide a blacker, slicker looking product. It may also give you cancer, I’m not sure, which is why I use Kikkoman.

So after a long absence smartfoodmama has returned. How could I not, since I’m enjoying the culinary delights of Penang. I’m enjoying a brief holiday with my good friend Christine Bond. Bondy and I have 40 years of shared culinary history, cooking and eating!

So far we’ve done the hand made noodles, dim sum and an amazing feast at Seven Terraces, picks may follow if my I-phone would just behave itself! But today we visited the stunning Pinang Peranakan Mansion. So here’s my ideal dining room.

As for the kitchen

Just a delightful experience. I didn’t take picks of the stunning jewellery collection, I just drooled. And then we were asked for a photo by a random young woman from Ipoh. I don’t know why she wanted to be photographed with us, but we thought we better return the favour.

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Touristing is such hungry work, so here’s my $2 lunch from Chettiars Tiffin cafe.

Living the dream!

 

 

 

Christmas is on its way and I’m wondering how you will enjoy this feast. Having barely wiped the oil from my greedy chops after Chanukah’s  latke fest, This secular Jew can begin thinking about Christmas, and yes, latkes do go rather well with a roast turkey – if you can be bothered!

Christmas isn’t a good time for everyone – especially non-Christians. It can also be a lonely time if estranged from family, or if you just don’t live in the same city. The worst thing about Christmas? Obligation! Whether it be where you are obliged to go on the day, how much you spend on presents or whether your turkey is free-range. Or will you serve turkey at all?

What I do love are family traditions and the way they evolve. Back in the 70s I decided if you could eat duck with orange sauce you could eat turkey with mango sauce. It’s been a family tradition ever since; except that after I moved to Perth my adult niece took it over. This year I’ll be in Sydney for Christmas and I’ll find out how good hers is.

The ‘mango-glazed’ turkey was of course just one of those things. I was catering for a wedding and I figured the ‘old buffet turkey breast’ would make a great centrepiece … well it was the 70s! These days of course I’d be run out of town if it wasn’t smoked or covered in yuzu or matcha. So it was just a question of making a nice thick mango sauce (sautéed ginger, lots of mango flesh, fresh coriander, white wine .. just make it up) and using it for a marinade, baste with it and leave a good jug full of the chunkier part to eat with the turkey, just like cranberry sauce only delicious.

So this year I won’t be getting up at 7 am to turn the oven on!

Speaking of traditions, my Brazilian ex-introduced me to rabanada (pronounced habanada). A very sweet and wonderful version of French toast, which I never got right until I went to Brasil and found out his Mum’s secret. Another a secret I should have known is that it is put on the table to enjoy with or after the Christmas eve meal. I just thought  French toast and a pot of coffee was a great way to start Christmas Day. So Rabanda on Christmas morning became a tradition in my home.

However, my Christmas Day in Brasil turned out to be more stressful than I could have imagined, what with exploding gas bottles, bee invasions and Dona Angelina commandeering the kitchen for most of the afternoon. However, she did produce a mountain of rabanada. A surplus in fact.

So, 2 secrets I learnt. First you need to use a baguette and cut it quite thick, but her secret is leite condensado, condensed milk (also used in Brazilian crème caramel). I’m always fascinated by the ways processed foods have become absorbed into traditional dishes. I’m thinking of my Mum’s chicken pie, with a packet of mushroom soup in there.

You don’t need a recipe for rabanada, just add a small can of condensed milk to your beaten eggs instead of milk. You may soak the bread in milk first, but take care it doesn’t get too soggy. Do cook at a lower temperature to avoid burning. You can flatten it a bit as it cooks. Butter or oil or both, suit yourself. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon to finish. Dona Angelina’s surplus? Re-heated really well in a frypan; though a sandwich press is perfect.

Sunday is the first night of Chanukah, or Hannuka.

Chanukah occurs around the same time as Christmas, just as Pesach falls around Easter. It could be argued that Easter and Pesach have related origins. Not so with Chanukah.

Chanukah is not a High Holy Day, it is a minor holiday, but that does not make it insignificant. In my secular home it wasn’t celebrated, despite my best efforts. Chanukah observance has really taken off in the US.

There is no such thing as “Chrismukah”. There really isn’t a connection. But Chanukah has assumed increasing importance in the face of Christmas. And it is celebrated with games and small gifts (stocking fillers?), sweets and children often receive coins – real or chocolate. You can see why it’s popular with children, and they do love to play with fire.

It’s good to remember that money was given to children so they might use it for tzedekah (poorly translated as ‘charity’ but tied up with the idea of righteousness, which sounds an awful lot like social justice to me.

Chanukah commemorates the uprising of Judah the Maccabee, against the rule of  the first Syrian-Greek conquerors (the Seleucids) who had occupied Jerusalem and despoiled the Great Temple. After driving them out the Temple needed reconsecration and for the oil lamps to be relit. But there was only one container of oil for this purpose. Supposedly it somehow burnt for 8 days, the time it took to produce more oil. Some details are confusing here but we are speaking of miracles!

Jews have been celebrating ever since by lighting one candle on the first night and adding another each night until the eight night when they are all lit.

While a Menorah looks like this:

The Chanukiah looks like:

 with nine candle holders. Eight candles are in a line and the ninth candle is either at a different height or in a different position on the Hanukiah.  It is lit at sunset.

Since it is the miracle of the oil, it is customary to eat foods fried in oil. No wonder it’s so popular! The Eastern-European classic is the potato latke (pancake) garnished with applesauce or sour cream, while Israelis favour the jelly-filled sufganya (doughnut). We go for both because why wouldn’t you?

Latkes are a very typical Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jewish) food. Very much like a potato rosti they are potato cakes.

My Latke Recipe:

Grate about 1 med onion and 2 med potatoes. You will need to strain the potato in a tea towel to remove the starchy liquid – but you should always keep a little liquid in case your mixture gets too dry and claggy.

The potato and onion is added to 2 beaten eggs, salt and pepper. Mix it well and then add about 2 tablespoons of flower (self raising or not).Just enough to bring it all together. Gluten free works just as well.

Then you heat your oil – and don’t bother with olive oil – you need peanut or safflower oil. Drop a tablespoon in and flatten it with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Turn, cook them till they’re brown and then drain  on paper towels. Latkes are such a treat that in my family the word signifies anything rather good. They don’t look elegant, but then Ashkenazi food has little to do with elegance and everything to do with taste. Potato, onion and oil, what can go wrong?

So we’ve had so many food stories dominating our media of late, that you wouldn’t have expected the Bunning’s sausage/onion debate to cause so much interest.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/protecting-your-business-from-a-sausage-and-onion-slip-up-20181122-p50hrq.html

For those of you living on another planet, or continent, a woman was badly  injured after slipping on an escaped piece of onion. So now it’s an OHS matter and Bunnings have declared that onions must go on first, with the sausage on top to avoid slippage.

I could go on endlessly about this doubtful thesis ( I think that they could just as easily slip from there). Where is the research? But the issue has managed to gain a fair bit of media coverage in the week preceding the predicted drubbing of the Victorian Liberal Party.

Much as I would like to make light of the story, the poor woman hit her head a cracker and was badly injured – certainly no laughing matter. It seems she is not alone:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-14/farmer-applauds-bunnings-onion-advice-after-slip/10496568

But onions go on top of the sausage, everybody know s that and maybe Bunnings (big as they are), could provide slip mats for that outside area and then maybe we could all pay more attention…There are so many things I love about this country. An angry backlash nears the top of the list.

https://www.9news.com.au/videos/protests-over-bunnings-sausage-sizzle/cjot7dqcr000i0rmlqcjlj677

Enjoy!

Regardless of where one lies on the political spectrum you have to wonder why a struggling new PM (do we have to talk about it?), facing a general election, would want to cut funding to such a magnificent organisation. A month before Christmas?  A devout Christian, apparently. And to his surprise there’s a massive uproar.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/scott-morrison-reverses-foodbank-funding-cuts/10491092

Of course the uproar should be that any Australians are going hungry. The uproar should be that anyone in the world is going hungry, but that is the subject for another day.

 

So I’m strolling the aisles of my local IGA when I spot a sign telling me they have 3 bunches of local asparagus for $6. Not huge bunches, but fat and juicy spears. Fresh! In like Flynn as we older folks would say.

So when my walking buddy declined our scheduled early dinner yesterday, I was unperturbed. I knew what delights were lurking in my kitchen: organic eggs from my very local Organic Collective ,  locally grown asparagus on woodfired multigrain from Bread in Common .

Okay some folks would say this is breakfast, but I’ll call it supper. Yes I could do with some work on the poached eggs! It did rather cry out for hollandaise but I’ve deliberately failed to learn how to make that as I might end up bathing in it. Better to treat myself to other folks’ work on that high cholesterol delight.  Also why I try and avoid baking… as for deep frying? I’m eyeing off an air-fryer. I’m also hinting broadly with Xmas (and Chanukah) around the corner.

And did you see my FB post about Galatis $1 artichokes?

Must be spring!

 

Gentrification is not without its advantages. My suburb, Hilton, is within the Fremantle municipality but isn’t as groovy or expensive. For a long time you had to head elsewhere for interesting food and good coffee. Not anymore.  Hilton and indeed Hamilton Hill now have several good places to eat and drink.

I’m not about to provide any 5 star/knife and fork ratings but I do want to let you know about a couple of new local oases. Ready Eddie‘s is definitely a family run business serving Filipino food – and isn’t that something different in Perth? They serve, amongst other things, some damn good barbequed chicken. Service is home-style, unsophisticated but very warm and friendly. There’s a lot of pork on the menu, not my favourite food, but it may be yours.

Then there’s San Zaab Thai Takeaway. Used to be A Taste of Spice in the Lefroy Rd shopping centre.  They don’t have a website, but they have delicious quality Thai cuisine. They are mainly doing take-away but we ate in and received attentive service and great food. I thought hard before recommending this restaurant because I don’t want  to have to fight for a table next time I go. But I want it to prosper.

Ready Eddie: Shop 2, 337 Carrington St. Hamilton Hill: (08) 93373399

San Zaab: 19/115 Lefroy Rd, Beaconsfield  : (08) 6161 6520.