When the challenge was issued from Mellecotte, I didn’t think it was something I would manage to participate in. Maybe my mind can’t usually form a cohesive picture from the random jigsaw pieces that form the contents of my freezer. But ours is surely the world’s smallest freezer, and every once in awhile, a bit of culling needs to take place, to make room for more bits of junk (I usually save anything I can, because I have that “you never know when you might need… (two spoonfuls of uneaten curry, a thumbnail sized piece of ginger, excess christmas pudding from the year before.. etc etc)” mentality). I also tend to never get round to labelling all my freezer bags, thinking that I would definitely remember what their contents were, or even recognise them in their frozen state, but the thing I never learn everytime is that freezing tends to homogenise the look of every item, so bolognaise looks like curry, which in turn looks like apple pie filling. Go figure!

It so happens today we spent a lazy afternoon having a long lunch with friends, and now that we’re back, neither of us can be bothered to leave the cosy confines of the apartment to do some grocery shopping. So, to the freezer it is!

Items I found and decided to use from the freezer :

– 1 bag coconut milk
– 1/2 box spinach
– 1 bag frozen prawns
– 1/4 packet soy beans
– bird’s eye chillis

In addition to some pantry/fridge items :

– rice
– tin of curry paste
– jar of preserved eggplant
– dried shrimp
– 1/2 spanish onion
– 1/4 butternut pumpkin
– 1 potato

What we ended up having was Vegetable and Prawn Curry with a Spinach, Shrimp and Coconut Rice. Surprisingly edible. The idea for the rice came from a recipe I spotted in a magazine several years back. I don’t remember the exact ingredients, just the title, which sounded quite tasty. My version involved cooking rice in the usual way, but substituting the water for coconut milk and adding a cube of the frozen spinach and a small handful of the dried shrimp. This is a great way of making rice more interesting when you don’t feel like having plain rice. If you would prefer to be guided by a recipe, I recommend this one by Stephanie Alexander.

Fancy coconut and spinach rice :
(serves 4-6)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 x 2cm piece ginger, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon chopped dried shrimp
200g baby spinach leaves, washed
1 cup basmati rice, washed and well drained
400ml coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add oil and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Add garlic, ginger, dried shrimp and spinach. Cook until spinach has wilted and liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally. Add rice, coconut milk and salt. Transfer to a rice cooker and set to cook. If you do not have a rice cooker, bring saucepan to a boil, cover, reduce heat to lowest setting and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Place a folded tea towel under lid to absorb steam, and leave undisturbed for 10 minutes, then serve.

This Mothers Day, we took mom to Sea Treasure in Crows Nest for dinner. One of the dishes we always order when in a chinese restaurant is the steamed fish dish. First you pick a fish from the selection of live fish they have on the menu. Once we had parrot fish, but this time we opted for barramundi, a beautiful freshwater fish with soft and delicate white flesh. Next you select the way in which the fish is prepared, and my family always goes for the steamed option. I believe this truly brings the flavour of the fish to the fore and there’s no better way to steam this fish than in a soy and wine based broth, finished with bright green sprigs of fresh coriander.

Coriander, cilantro or chinese parsley. As far as I’m concerned, a rose by any other name… but I know some people who absolutely cannot stand the herb, and never quite understood why until I read on Wikipedia that there are some people who apparently have a genetic trait that causes them to perceive coriander leaves as tasting “rank” and “soapy”. I don’t have that problem that’s why I’m often seen piling coriander onto my plate like it’s salad. Admittedly, it’s a strong flavoured herb – so strong that it was used in medieval times to mask the flavour of rotting meat.

Aside from the leaves and stalks, the rest of the plant is also extremely useful. The roots can be chopped or pounded finely and added to Thai curry pastes, while the seeds when dried and ground form an important component of rubs, marinades and Indian curries.

This doesn’t really explain why I love coriander so much. The best I can come up with is that it must have something to do with it’s savouryness. From her book Recipes and Stories, the ever trustworthy Kylie Kwong has a great recipe for steamed fish that replicates my family’s chinese restaurant fish experiences. If you should try it, don’t forget the coriander. It’s so much more than just a garnish!

(Rinku of Cooking in Westchester is hosting this week’s WHB. Check out her website for a delicious sounding Moong Dal (mmm..dal!) recipe and for other herby ideas!)

Several late friday afternoons ago, B calls me up and work and says, “How would you like to go to Brisbane for the weekend?” Hell yes! The flight was in the early evening, so there wasn’t much time to race home after work and throw a few things into a bag (the holy trinity of toiletries, underpants and socks, because you can never have enough of either). B had to go for work, but I who very fortunately got to go for free, was definitely going to do some exploring of the city. We weren’t actually going to the Gold Coast part of Brisbane, so technically, we didn’t go to BrisVegas. But anyway..

We had fantastic weather for the two days we were there; sunshine, blue skies. I got by on the map I found in our hotel room. It wasn’t very detailed, but the city streets are a little more straight forward than silly Sydney ones, so it was pretty easy to know where I was going. Being an unexpected trip, I didn’t have anything planned, and pretty much spent my time walking around seeing what I would stumble across. I didn’t see any interesting bakeries or pastry shops, but did come across a cafe specialising in desserts called Freestyle Tout at the Emporium.

The highlights :

1. The Buddha Birthday Festival at Southbank – Rides, food stalls, exhibitions, a rousing rendition of Michael Jackson’s Heal the World by a choir, dragon ice sculpture, lion dancing, street performers, karaoke, markets, now THIS is what I call a festival!

2. Visiting the Brisbane GOMA, especially the Asia-Pacific exhibition

3. Eating at Timmy’s and having tea at Batavia, both at Southbank – Great food, great service, in the relaxed cafe atmosphere of Timmy’s. B had a fantastic mussaman curry and I opted for some high tea which featured delicious crustless sandwiches and mini sweet treats. We also sampled the banana fritters with toasted coconut ice-cream which was simple and very tasty. Actually, I kind of already expected it to taste fantastic (and wasn’t disappointed), when we ordered it and Timmy nodded approvingly, saying, “Good! You’ll love that one!”. At the teahouse and shop Batavia, you can select a tea from the menu, or even coffee and hot chocolates, to have with a selection of plated desserts, mini cakes and biscuits or sandwiches. My tea arrived on a little bamboo tray with all the usual tea accoutrements. We settled back into comfy chairs, resting weary feet, taking in the many interesting items the shop had on display.

Also experienced :

1. Dining at ecco, Phillip Johnson’s well known bistro.

2. Chinatown and the Streets Beach – If I were 8, I would’ve been in heaven running around the Streets Ice-cream-sponsored artificial beach and water park. As I’m almost four times that age and childless, I had fun watching the kids having fun instead. I wanted to take more pictures of the kids, but thought it might look a bit dodgy to be randomly snapping children that didn’t belong to me, so put the camera away.

3. Fruit and Vegetable chips – While in Brisbane, I developed a fascination with fried foods, and came home armed with bags of various kinds of chips : Durian, Jackfruit, mixed vegetable (brightly coloured okra, carrot, greenbean and celery chips) and one of my cupboard staples, Wasabi Peas. Having tasted them all, I must say, there’s a reason why boring ole potato chips are so popular. All the other chips were a little weird – Jackfruit was kind of dehydrated, the mixed vegetables were so pretty but airy in taste and texture, and the Durian was the best of the lot, but only because it tasted like a homemade potato chip.

Wouldn’t recommend :

1. Caxton Street Seafood Festival – A taxi driver mentioned this festival to us, and we thought we were pretty lucky to be in Brisbane on the same day of the festival. We expected it to be a little like the Sydney Food and Wine Fair, but it turns out that it’s more of a live music, beer and fried food (chips, calamari etc, with a few overpriced oysters) party which you have to pay to get into ($10 or $20, I can’t remember how much exactly). The queues for the stalls were incredibly long and after standing in the hot sun for an eternity, we gave up and decided to leave. Late into the night, there were still tons of people queueing to get in. I can’t understand the enormous popularity of this “festival”. Maybe I’m lacking the party gene or had unfortunately arrived at this place expecting something completely different.

Batavia
3/167 Grey St
Southbank 5 Cinema Complex
South Brisbane 4101

ecco
100 Boundary Street
(Corner Adelaide Street)
Brisbane 4000

Timmy’s
Shop 4B Galeria Complex
Cnr Grey & Tribune Street
South Brisbane 4101