Dainty Sichuan

Well you folks were so unhelpful with finding somewhere for me and penpal Steve to drink. So I took him to try Dainty Sichuan. I think I almost killed him. Damn that food is hot. We were sweating under our eyelids.

But you know how I’m a little obsessive? Well right now all I can think about is when I can get back to Dainty Sichuan and get some more of that Chilli Eggplant. I’ve only eaten there twice. Not enough. Want more.. True it’s kinda painful dealing with the chilli there but I’m in love and I know that means pain. I’m not even sad about dumplings closing down. I’m on a restaurant rebound and I’m just thinking how if I eat there often enough my chilli tolerance will build up and the pain will be less.

If you’re not down with Sichuan (or Szechuan) cuisine then basically what you need to know is chilli. And szechuan pepper, which gives you that great tongue tingling strangeness. Dainty Sichuan is not particularly dainty – I saw plates heaping with food mountains – but damn is it good. There’s a pretty good vegetarian range and the staff are sweet once you finally get their attention. I think really they just avoid taking orders from honkeys cos they know we don’t speak good Mandarin.

So far I have eaten and loved the chilli eggplant, red hot tofu threads (!), garlic cucumber and red hot radish threads. The cucumber is a good refreshing break. A favourite among our party was the green bean jelly noodles. When our waitress read our order back to us she said “one jelly bean”. We loved that. They are thicker than your average mung bean noodle so you really get to appreciate the jelly texture – firm to the bite, yet giving. What else? Well they’re cold and there’s spicy sauce on them. Go the jelly bean. Just don’t make the mistake me and Steve did of thinking that because we ordered noodles we didn’t need rice. You need rice. And cucumber. Now go.

(It's on Corporation Lane, off Little Bourke. Where David & Camy/Winston’s used to be.)

help

Hey so I'm meeting my penfriend from Portland tonight for beers. Where should I take him? I want to show him somewhere good but I feel like all Melbourne's drinking establishments have gone yuppie and boring and maybe he won't understand the joys of Percy's. What I really feel like is a seedy dive bar...

soup

I'm all snuffly head full of mucus feeling sorry for myself right now. But I have the memories of a glorious weekend with hysterical ladies, insanely beautiful wild places and me hot missus to keep me cheery. Of course we had too too much food and ate ourselves into a stupor.

I think though, that the best bit had to be the wombats... so many wombats. See hungryhead for pictures of the cutest bleached blond surfie wombat you have ever seen. Damn I love wombats. They eat all the time too...

Anyway, people apparently want more recipes and less of me waffling so here's the delicious soup I made on friday night. Lish made this soup for me on marmalade night all that time ago and I was hooked. It's from the most excellent Moorish by Greg and Lucy Malouf.

Fennel Soup with Lemon and Cinnamon
Maree: "I was worried you were putting cinnamon in with those things but it's really good".

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions sliced
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 leeks, roughly chopped
2 bulbs fennel*, sliced
2 potatoes, in chunks
1.5 litres stock
1 cinnamon stick
peel of half a lemon
1/2 tsp allspice
2 bay leaves
2 egg yolks
150ml thick cream
juice of 2 lemons
extra good oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp rough chopped parsley

*The recipe calls for 3 large bulbs. I tried that once and they disastrously didn't fit in the pot. This recent time I just used 1 bulb and that was fine. 2 would be good I think.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the onions, garlic, leeks and fennel until they soften a little. Add the potatoes and chicken stock, then the cinnamon stick, lemon peel, allspice and bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Remove and discard the stick, peel and leaves and season to taste with salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the cream, then ladle in a bit of the hot soup. Whisk together well, then tip the egg mixture into the soup.
Slowly return the soup to just below boiling, stirring as you go. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning.
As you serve drizzle each bowl with your good oil - no really, do this it totally lifts the soup. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and parsley. Yum. That'll make you feel less sooky.

do i worry too much?

Many would say yes. But when i can't freak out about the big stuff because it's too much I worry the small stuff. At the moment friends I'm worried by the sticker on Bicks pickles which says:

"NEW name, SAME quality"

Yup Bicks will be changing their name to Globus to "align itself to other quality products". I dunno. Globus pickles used to be ok, good even, but they ain't no Bicks. Who's to say they won't start messing with my favourite pickles?

Meanwhile enjoy the pleasures of Mr Pickles:

don't think i didn't

On friday I made a massive feast at the ranch. I think the premise was that I would make lunch in exchange for Tal working her magic with the haircutting scissors again. Suffice it to say I got completely carried away and made an Indian luncheon consisting of:

• Sweet sour chickpeas (no not dodgy chinese style but with shitloads of tamarind)
• Broccoli the Madhur Jaffrey way with chilli and garlic
• Eggplant fried all tender in a tomato and ginger sauce
• Raita
• Radish and peanut salad
  

And yes... CARROT HALVA!

Those capitals and exclamation mark show you just how excited I was about making a dessert from carrots. So excited that I kept running around going - "don't think those carrots aren't going to be dessert." To which people looked confused and later, just tired. "We know esther, the carrots are dessert... get over it already" their glazed eyes said. Maybe they were thinking carrots as dessert is old hat, like carrot cake or something... but really, this is a whole new world of vegetal dessert excitement.

And i'm here to tell you that all the double negatives were worth it. Don't think that carrot halva is not the bomb. So so good. I was so sorry I had halved the recipe.. it cooks down a lot and we hardly had enough. Don't make my mistake.

There are heaps of other recipes for this - some with condensed milk, some where you pressure cook the carrots. I'd be open to hearing about any other versions people have tried. Apparently in the Punjab they make this with purple carrots. Now that would be hot!


Carrot Halva (or Halwa if you prefer)
1 kg carrots
1 litre milk
1 cup sugar
100g ghee or butter
2/3 cup raisins or sultanas
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 teaspoon cardamon seeds
ground cardamon

First up you need to grind your cardamon - pull out the green husks as you do. Now grate your carrots and stick them in a pot with the milk. Bring it to a simmer. Now cook it very very slowly until all the milk is absorbed. Careful it don't burn. This will take forever. Enough time for you to make 3 other dishes for your feast. Or get a haircut.

When it's absorbed add the ghee and cook until it browns a little. Mine didn't really brown, but anyway, add the sugar and cook until it's thick and dry. Add the raisins, cardamon and almonds. Serve with a few more nuts sprinkled over the top and a sprinkle of cardamon. Pass around the ice cream.

Hell yes.