Monthly Archives: October 2011

Malaysia Kitchen BBQ Madness!

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To kick off Crave Sydney International Food Festival 2011, Malaysia Kitchen participated in the BBQ Madness event by putting on a shindig at Parramatta Mall a few weekends ago.  It was full of fantastic food prepared by several Western Sydney Malaysian restaurants, including Parramatta favorites Temasek and Ma’leisia Cafe.  There were also demos by Masterchef Australia’s Alvin Quah and Adam Liaw, as well as chefs Wanitha Tanasingam and Florence Tan (Malaysia’s Maggie Beer).

It was a great chance to enjoy the great food and culture of Malaysia, plus hang out with a few food friends over lunch and dessert.

Malaysia Kitchen BBQ Madness outside of Town Hall in Parramatta

Adam Liaw presides over the festivities…

Satay sizzlin’ at Albee’s Kitchen Malaysian Delights’ stand

Chicken Satay from Albee’s Kitchen

Pulut Panggang from Albee’s Kitchen

Char Kway Teow from Jackie M

Ayam Bagus from Kampong Boy

Food descriptions (as taken from MK BBQ menu):

  • Chicken Satay: Chicken in satay sauce served with cucumber and spanish onion garnish.
  • Pulut Panggang: grilled sticky rice and sambal prawns wrapped in banana leaf.
  • Char Kway Teow: Malaysian stir-fried rice noodles and egg noodles with chicken, garlic, beansprouts, egg and chives.
  • Ayam Bagus: eight spices Malaysian BBQ chicken wings in satay sauce.

The lovely Florence Tan wins the crowd during her cooking demo

Adam Liaw’s cooking demo

Alvin Quah’s cooking demo

Alvin helps serve the food after his demo

Demo kitchen

Alvin’s assistants prepare to serve the demo food

Nasi Lemak at Temasek (after BBQ)

Hainanese Chicken Rice at Temasek (after BBQ)

Kecap Manis Sotong (squid in sweet soy) at Temasek (after BBQ)

Restaurants featured in this post:

Albee’s Kitchen 
282 Beamish St
Campsie, 2194

Jackie M
85 Majors Bay Rd
Sydney, 2137
www.jackiem.com.au

Kampong Boy
370 Forest Rd 
Hurstville NSW 2220

Temasek
The Roxy Arcade
71 George St
Parramatta NSW 2150

Be sure to follow @malaysiakitchen on Twitter (follow me while you’re at it!), and join them on Facebook. 

Go to www.cravesydney.com to check out all that SIFF 2011 has to offer!

Seattle: Stumptown Coffee Roasters & Iced Coffee Stubbies

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Seattle is of course well known for its unequivocal coffee scene and is the birthplace of the Starbucks brand.  These days as Starbies has spread its wings as an international chain, coffee bean broker & frappuccino vendor, it’s no longer the place to find excellent espresso.  (This isn’t to knock my love of the place and occasional guilty pleasure of my double short caramel macchiato…which, being thousands of miles from ‘home,’ sometimes takes me back.)

Seattle’s southern neighbour, Portland, is of course in it’s own right a coffee capitol.  This is where Stumptown Coffee Roasters is originally out-posted.  I’ve had an internet love-affair with Stumptown since reading about it over the past year at NYTimes.com & T magazine. Lucky for me, by the time I made my way back to the States for a little visit, Stumptown had a shop in Seattle.

Americano (similar to long black, except the shots go in the cup first with water topping it off.)

By the laudation of coffee and all it’s bean and brewery, I actually felt completely transported back to Sydney. When I entered the shop it was full of grunge-hipster (a new mix – Seattle is the birth place of grunge) students with their laptops out.  The palate of the place (which was difficult for photos) is rich, masculine browns.  Early 60s wooden radio equipment presides over the shop from its shelved perch.

What I was most pumped to find was that they had these babies in stock…behold the ready-to-drink, iced black coffee…in a stubby:

Ready to Drink Cold Brew Coffee Stubbies — $3.5/each

That’s right folks, now you can crack a stubby on a hot summer’s day, on the street, without getting thrown in the slammer.  They’re super-strong, like a strong long black.  Perfect way to wake yourself up on a summer day, or cool down on a blazing afternoon.  If you’re not convinced, let Oprah talk you into it.  She featured them in the August 2011 magazine.

What’s more, the barista said the Seattle shop has the highest sales for the stubbies. (Hmm…I’d have thought NYC. I guess Seattle-ites have a higher IQ.)  My big question is, when will someone come out with this in Sydney? *hint hint*

Mom and I bought 6 & they threw in one for free (since we had practically filled a gratuitous drink card in one visit.)


Stumptown Coffee Roasters — Seattle 
616 East Pine Street
Seattle, WA 98122
(207-329-0115)

Open daily, 7am-9pm
http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/locations/pine 

Tetsuya Scrambled Eggs

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These eggs make one of my favorite weekend breakfasts…

Inspired over a year ago (and well before this blog was started), by Jules at The Stone Soup, this beautiful scrambled egg recipe will change your scrambled egg paradigm.  The secret ingredient? Creamed-corn. Yes, creamed corn.

(Anyone remember “Hope Floats?” Bernice Pruitt: Is this where you were “cream of corn”?
Birdee Pruitt: “Queen of Corn,” honey. Three years runnin’. A feat unsurpassed in the history of Smithville.)

I won’t give some detailed recipe.  You’ll find it’s well done on Jules’ site, here. (Which, by the way, is an incredible food blog around healthy, minimalist cooking. I’ve found some of my favorite recipes on her blog.) But the gist is it involves eggs, butter, creamed corn, and some ricotta stirred through at the end.  Shave some fresh parmesan over it at the end and serve with some spicy chorizo, split and cooked under the grill for around 4-5 minutes each side.