Review: Treasure Restaurant, Forest Hill

Treasure Restaurant
482 Springvale Road, Forest Hill
(03) 9803 2388

Cuisine: Chinese
BYO: Yes
Prices (yum cha): $4 standard, $5 super, $6 deluxe, tea $1.20 per person
Parking: Free on-site parking

Thanks to Iron Chef Shellie’s comment on my Imperial Kingdom post I was reminded of Treasure Restaurant in Forest Hill as a yum cha place. I can’t believe I forgot about good old Treasure, the place of many family dinners when I was still staying with my parents. I haven’t been there in years, but I needn’t worry since nothing has changed – same exterior, same decor, even the same staff!

Treasure is located on Springvale Road, in between Burwood Hwy and Canterbury Road. We made a booking for the early session on a Sunday and were surprised to find the restaurant was half empty! Not generally a good sign, but so long as the food is good, I don’t care how many other diners there are – in fact, the less, the better so it’s not so noisy!

The food started coming around as soon as we sat down which was good because I was hungry! We normally skip breakfast before a yum cha session so there is more room for the food! One of hubby’s favourite steamed dumpling is the scallop dumpling. It is more often than not a combination of scallop and prawn paste – some places do it very well and at others, it tastes similar to the prawn dumpling. At Treasure, we could see pieces of scallop in the dumpling and though it was also filled with prawn, it was a delicious tasting dumpling.

Scallop dumpling, super $5

We haven’t had the deep fried crescent dumplings for a while, so when we saw it come around, we ordered a plate. They come whole but we asked the waitress to cut them in half for us. I was impressed that they retained their shaped even after cutting with scissors - a sign of a crunchy shell. The outside shell is slightly sweet and crunchy, but chewy, and inside the filling is made up of mushrooms, minced pork and dried shrimp. The dumpling was rather hollow, but that is typical of these types of dumplings.

Deep fried crescent dumplings (hum sui kok), standard $4

Next was the stuffed beancurd – cubes of deep fried tofu stuffed with prawn mince and topped with a flavoursome dark sauce. The waitress actually said it was stuffed with pork, but to me it tasted and looked like prawn.

Stuffed beancurd, super $5

Hubby and I always used to order the ginger prawns until we got too many dry, pork filled ones and were turned off. Everything so far at Treasure was good so we decided to give the ginger prawns a try here. They are filled with a prawn and pork mixture, wrapped in wonton skin and deep fried, before being steamed with a ginger and spring onion sauce. These ginger prawns were nice and moist and I liked the filling.

Ginger prawn dumpling, super $5

The next dish was called seafood siu mai. It was a minced pork ball topped with a different piece of seafood, but without the siu mai skin. The minced pork ball was very good, but I didn’t think much of the seafood on top.

Seafood siu mai, deluxe $6

Without fail, we always order the fried white radish cake where ever we go. This one looked deceptively firm, but it was soft in the mouth. There were also a few shredded pieces of radish in there, which I think adds to the texture.

Fried white radish cake (lor bak koh), standard $4

Another dish we always order is the prawn dumpling. These ones were so good! The dumplings were plump and filled with a very tasty prawn filling. No visible sign of bits of prawn, but I really liked the mixture.

Prawn dumpling (har gao), super $5

Hubby was looking forward to the taro dumpling. A pre-requisite of these dumplings is always the crunchy shell and it shouldn’t be too oily. These taro dumplings were a bit different to the ones we have had recently because they are actually filled with a lot of taro (yam) which gave the dumpling a mushy texture. If you love your taro, you will love these dumplings.

Deep fried taro dumpling (wu kok), standard $4

The egg tarts were probably the least favourite dish but only because it was barely warm. Egg tarts have to be served warm as a minimum. They still tasted nice though.

Egg custard tart, standard $4

Overall: The food overall was fantastic so I didn’t quite understand why on a Sunday, peak yum cha day, the restaurant was less than half full for the early session. Maybe people go there for the later session? The food comes at a reasonable speed and the staff actually serve you with a smile here! The food choices were a bit limited though.

It was hard to pick a favourite dish but I would say the prawn dumplings and the least favourite was the egg custard tart, only because it was barely warm.

Would I return? Yes, we enjoyed it.

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

The Cookbook Challenge – at least one new cookbook recipe a week

I made a resolution a few months ago that I would not purchase any more cookbooks until I used my existing ones more. I don’t have that many cookbooks as I just started getting interested in cooking recently but they are all sitting in my bookshelf in my kitchen unused (or hardly used). What was the point in buying new cookbooks when I don’t even use my old ones? To quote my mum, “they are sitting there, collecting dust”!

Fast forward a few months later and I have purchased an additional 8 new cookbooks!! Yikes! And I have only made less than a handful of recipes from my cookbooks! Terrible, I know. I do try new recipes, but they don’t come from my existing cookbooks.

My recently purchased cookbooks – I just realised they are mostly Chinese cooking!

So I have decided to start a Cookbook Challenge to prompt me to utilise my cookbooks more. I will set a goal to cook at least one new cookbook recipe a week and blog about my results. Sometimes it may be more than one, but my minimum needs to be one.

A while ago, I went through my cookbooks, tabbed the recipes I wanted to make, and then made a list of the recipes so I would have an easy reference guide. I intend to do this with all the new cookbooks I have since purchased, as well as expand the listing to include categories such as dessert, mains, entrées, chicken, beef, pork etc. Hopefully this will make selecting a recipe to try a lot easier.

Does this challenge have an end date? No, but by this time next year, I need to have made at least 52 different recipes from my cookbooks. Gee, one a week is only 52 for the year, which hardly makes a dint in the thousands of recipes contained in all my cookbooks!!

The secondary and much harder challenge is that I am not allowed to purchase any more cookbooks until this year is up! Hopefully the fact that my kitchen bookshelf is now full acts somewhat as a deterrent! :P

I hope you can join me in my Cookbook Challenge journey! Feel free to start your own cookbook challenge too!

P.S. Maybe if there are a few people interested, we could start a group and take turns to choose a weekly theme, for example, chocolate, and each of us has to make a recipe with chocolate from our own cookbooks. It doesn’t need to be the same cookbook or recipe, so long as it contains the weekly theme. Please send me an email if you are interested.

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

Recipe: POM Wonderful juice cupcakes with POM Wonderful pink buttercream

Thanks to Lindsay from POM I got delivery of a box of POM Wonderful juice which is 100% authentic pomegranate juice made from the Wonderful variety of pomegranates. I had seen these curvy bottles at Woolworths in the fruit and vegetables section, but never thought to try a bottle because to be honest, it is a bit beyond me to pay $5 for a small bottle of juice which I didn’t know much about.


Now I know POM Wonderful juice has all natural ingredients, no added sugar or artificial additives and is packed with good antioxidants to help neutralise free radicals. POM Wonderful juice rated the highest in the antioxidant potency index against other drinks such as red wine, grape juice and green tea. It was interesting to learn that POM has invested tens of millions of dollars into researching the health benefits of the Wonderful variety of pomegranates.

POM Wonderful juice has a deep red colour, similar in appearance and taste to cranberry juice but not as sweet. It leaves a slightly tart taste in the mouth which people who like sweet juices won’t enjoy. I personally didn’t mind it. I’ve never eaten pomegranate so I’m not sure whether this juice is a reflection of the fruit itself but I would presume so, since it is made with real pomegranates, not a flavouring.

The first thought that came into my head when I was thinking what to make with the juice was red velvet cupcakes. I have always wanted to make red velvet cake, but have been scared off by the copious amounts of red food colouring it called for. I thought it would be a clever idea to reduce down some of the POM Wonderful juice and use it as a substitute for red colouring. Err, not such a good idea! My red velvet cupcakes turned into brown velvet cupcakes because the colouring wasn’t strong enough. They tasted sensational though, so I will have to make them again with proper red food colouring.

I then experimented with substituting the milk in normal vanilla cupcakes and vanilla buttercream for the POM Wonderful juice. The first batch I made I used the juice straight from the bottle but the cupcake went brown instead of a nice pink I was expecting! The next batch I tried reducing the juice down by half hoping for a more concentrated colour, but the colour of the cupcake turned out the same so I wouldn’t bother wasting the juice by reducing it. The batch with the juice straight from the bottle actually tasted better.

POM Wonderful juice cupcakes with POM Wonderful pink buttercream
Makes 12


Ingredients
120g butter, softened
165g caster sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
210g self raising flour, sifted
125ml (½ cup) POM Wonderful pomegranate juice


Method
1. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan forced). Line 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake papers.

2. Beat butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. This may take up to 5 minutes.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on a low speed until just combined.

4. Add flour in three batches and juice in two batches, starting and ending with the flour (add one third flour, half juice, one third flour, remaining half juice and remaining one third flour). Mix on low speed after each addition. Try not to overmix.

5. Pour mixture into cupcake papers until ¾ full.

Cupcakes ready for the oven

6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine were in for 20 minutes.

Cupcakes cooling on a wire rack

7. Turn onto a wire rack and allow to cool, then ice as below.


For POM Wonderful juice pink buttercream
80g butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar
3 tbs POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

Method
1. Using an electric mixer, beat butter until pale (approx. 3 minutes).

2. Add one cup of icing sugar and beat until combined before adding one more cup of icing sugar and beating.

Buttercream after the addition of 2 cups of icing sugar

3. After 2 cups of icing sugar, add in the juice and beat until combined.

Buttercream after adding juice

4. Add the last cup of icing sugar and beat well. At this stage your icing should be quite airy and light.

Final buttercream consistency

5. Fill a piping bag with a star nozzle attached with some of the icing. Starting from the outside, pipe a swirl.

Notes

• If your icing is too stiff, add more juice. If it is too soft, add extra icing sugar or put it in the fridge to harden for about 10-15 minutes.


• If you don’t have a piping bag or nozzle, you can use a knife to spread on the icing.


• I like to put my iced cupcakes in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes so that the piped icing can set, then remove them and store in an airtight container.


• These cupcakes do not need to be refrigerated and can be kept for up to 3 days.

Inside the cupcakes

Results: The cupcakes didn’t turn out a nice pink I was expecting, but they still tasted great. There wasn’t a strong pomegranate flavour, but it was definitely different from using milk. The cupcakes were light and fluffy and not too sweet. The icing did however, turn a lovely shade of pink and had a slight sour taste to counteract all the sweetness from the icing sugar. I brought some to work and some to a Melbourne Cup Day BBQ and everyone really enjoyed them. One girl from work who never comments much on my baked goodies actually came up to my desk and said they were really good!

You could also substitute the pomegranate juice in the recipe for another type of juice.


Would I make them again? Yes, definitely. The pink icing is so pretty!

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

Review: Esposito, Carlton

Esposito
162 Elgin Street, Carlton VIC 3053
(03) 9347 9838

Cuisine: Italian / Seafood
BYO: Yes, $10 a bottle
Prices: Entrées $19-$26, mains $35-$42, desserts $16-$21
Parking: Street parking, nearby paid car parks

Outside Esposito

It had been quite a while since hubby and I had caught up with Mr M & Mrs S so we arranged dinner one night at Esposito as it was sort of a middle meeting point. Esposito is located on the corner of Elgin & Rathdowne Street. Parking was a real bugger, with most spots within walking distance of the restaurant either taken or a permit zone! I did numerous circles in the car before finally finding one. There are a few paid car parks if you struggle to find street parking like me.

Mrs S recently found out I have a food blog but we have not dined with her & Mr M since I started blogging. I find the first time I dine with someone post-starting my food blog a bit awkward! You have to explain that you will be taking a photo of all the food and they are not allowed to start eating until I have taken my photos. Some people might mind, others don’t, but it is hard to tell the first time! I guess you can judge people’s reaction to your avid photography by whether or not you get invited out for dinner again! :) I think Mr M & Mrs S didn’t mind (well, at least I hope not!).

The menu is quite limited with 7 entrées and 6 mains. There is a special loaves & fishes menu where on Monday to Friday for lunch and dinner, for $35 you get 2 courses and a glass of wine with tea or coffee. It is an excellent deal but I suspect the servings might be smaller and you do not get as much choice. There was no differentiation between entrées and mains in the loaves and fishes menu. The four of us decided to stick with the ala carte menu.

We all got an amuse bouche of a small bowl of mixed herbs to start off with.

Amuse bouche – mized herbs

We ordered two entrées to share between the four of us, the first being the Canadian scallops. It was 3 beautifully seared scallops on top of what tasted like a mash potato and one small duck tortellone. We split the tortellone into 4 so we could all try it, but the quartered piece ended up being so small, meaning none of us really got to taste it properly anyway!

Canadian scallops with duck tortellone; syrup of raspberry vinegar & spice $21

The second entrée was the mud crab, avocado and apple salad. The waitress had spinach essence in a small test tube, which she poured onto the salad once it was at our table. The apple was grated so thinly, it didn’t taste like apple but gave the salad a delightful crunch. It was difficult to taste much of the mud crab, but I enjoyed the fresh flavours of the salad. It also came with a small bowl of crispy bread.

Mud crab, avocado & green apple salad; young spinach & spinach essence $26

Crispy bread that came with the salad

Mr M ordered the grilled John Dory fillets for his main which came mixed in a pile of broccolini and beetroot shreds. Mr M enjoyed his dish, but thought hubby’s fish was better. We had a good laugh at the “skid marks” when the dish first arrived!

Grilled John Dory fillets, salad of Moreton Bay bugs, broccolini, globe artichokes & baby beetroots $39

Mrs S ordered the suckling pig. It was more like a slow roasted pork belly rather than the crispy skinned suckling pig you find at Chinese restaurants, which was what I was expecting. Mrs S proclaimed this as the best pork she has ever had! The pork had a wonderful flavour and melt in the mouth texture like all good pork should. The petite apple was very cute!

Suckling pig; petite apple & cabbage salad & poached apple reduction $38

Hubby ordered the whole King George whiting. It came as a whole fish, open with the centre bone removed and stuffed with some steamed greens. The flesh of the fish was so delicate and sweet, cooked perfectly, but there was hardly any of it!

Whole King George Whiting $42

My main was the herb crusted salmon. I wouldn’t exactly call it herb crusted as the herbs were only just put on top of the fish. I liked how they cut it into a cylinder shape but I found the salmon underdone as it was still raw in the middle. The crayfish pieces on the side were so tender, almost like it was sashimi. When I asked the waiter whether the crayfish was supposed to be like sashimi, he mentioned that the chef tended to undercook the seafood. I didn’t mind because it tasted so good slightly undercooked.

Herb crusted atlantic salmon, fricassee of fresh peas, crayfish & lardons $38

Inside the salmon

We also got a side of roasted potatoes to share. The potatoes were nothing out of the ordinary and erring on the side of being overcooked.

Roasted potatoes with rosemary & garlic $9

Overall: The seafood was very fresh and of high quality, but prices were on the expensive side and the serves were small. The service was excellent and attentive even though the restaurant was fully booked.

Would I return? For the prices, I wasn’t blown away by the food though if I were to return, I would try the loaves and fishes menu.

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

Session with Luke Nguyen at Books for Cooks, Fitzroy

Thanks to @JetsettingJoyce, I found out about a cookbook discussion session with Luke Nguyen held at the book store, Books for Cooks in Fitzroy (233-235 Gertrude Street, 8415 1415). The session was sponsored by Luke’s publisher, Murdoch Books, as part of his Melbourne promotional tour of his new cookbook, The Songs of Sapa.


Books for Cooks is a food lover’s heaven with a huge range of all kinds of cookbooks, from new releases to older books you would have a hard time finding anywhere else. There are shelves and shelves of books stacked to the ceiling – I could spend a whole day in the bookshop and not even make a dint in browsing everything that is available.

Luke Nguyen

The Books for Cooks room was the perfect intimate setting for Luke to spend an hour and a half telling a room of about 30 people more about himself and sharing stories of how he got to where he is today, as well as discussing his new cookbook The Songs of Sapa and answering our questions.


As Luke was talking to us, we got to try some food made from the recipes in his cookbook. Luke didn’t cook for us, but rather one of the owners, Amanda, made all the lovely food for us. We got to try the chargrilled goat in white bean curd paste, the fish congee and the crisp silken tofu in a tomato and black pepper sauce. My favourite was the chargrilled goat.

The Songs of Sapa is a beautifully presented cookbook which takes you through the different types of Vietnamese cuisine in each area of Vietnam. The delicious sounding recipes are accompanied by wonderful photographs and stories. Luke told us of how he didn’t want studio photography for his cookbook so he took along a photographer with him to Vietnam, where all the photographs are taken. All recipes contain ingredients which you will be able to find at most Asian grocery stores.

Luke Nguyen’s cookbook, The Songs of Sapa and his sister Pauline’s previously
released cookbook, Secrets of the Red Lantern

For those who wanted to purchase a cookbook, Luke was signing copies with a personalised message. One thing that sets Books for Cooks apart from chain stores like Borders and Angus & Robertson is that they wrap their cookbooks with a clear protective cover. Very handy!

My message from Luke inside my copy of The Songs of Sapa

Luke is keeping busy with a planned second series of his show, Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam. The first series takes us on a culinary journey through Vietnam with Luke cooking many recipes along the way. It is currently airing on SBS on Thursdays at 7.30pm. Luke has also started the Little Lantern foundation to provide opportunities for disadvantaged and under-educated Vietnamese youth in central Vietnam to learn new skills in hospitality.

It was lovely to have met Luke – he seems like a very genuine, down to earth guy! I am looking forward to visiting Luke and Pauline’s restaurant, Red Lantern, when I am in Sydney next!

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

Review: Pizza Espresso, Lower Templestowe

Pizza Espresso
17 Macedon Road, Lower Templestowe VIC
(03) 9852 2333

Cuisine: Italian
BYO: Yes, $2 per person
Prices: Medium pizzas $14-$17, large pizzas $17-$21.50, pasta $15-$19.50
Parking: Along Macedon Road

All the mentions of Pizza Espresso proudly displayed on the front window

I read a review by Matt Preston of a pizza place in Lower Templestowe where he makes mention of “heights of greatness with a sticky date pizza”. I sent the review to fellow sticky date pudding fan, Iron Chef Shellie and said we should go check it out. We ended up making it a foodblogger’s outing with Penny, Sarah, Kat, Adrian & Nicole.

Pizza Espresso is located in the shopping strip on Macedon Road. It is rather small inside, with our table of 12 occupying about a third of the restaurant. The place was noisy which made conversation difficult – we will have to definitely choose a quieter place next time so we can all hear each other!

After some discussion, we decided to order our own dishes, but I ended up swapping with Adrian & Penny so we could try more things. Hubby and I ordered the sausage pizza which was topped with tomato, mozzarella, Italian sausage and mushrooms. All the pizzas are cooked in a huge woodfired oven at the front of the restaurant. While the tomato base went all the way to the edges, the ingredients didn’t and as a result, the pizza was overwhelmed by the somewhat soggy base/crust.

Salsiccia e Funghi – tomato, fior di latte (mozzarella), Italian sausage, mushroom – medium $16

We got to try the goat’s cheese ravoli with a creamy salsa verde, the gnocchi napoli and the speck, gorgonzola and pear pizza. I really enjoyed the goat’s cheese ravoli. The creamy sauce was perfect with the al dente ravoli. Hubby and I actually tried to order one for ourselves but the wait was too long so we passed. I love gnocchi, but this one was overcooked and mushy. The speck, gorgonzola and pear pizza was a surprise hit, with the salty speck (Italian ham), smelly gorgonzola cheese and sweet pear marrying together well. This pizza was much better than our sausage one.

There is a good selection of desserts on the menu but the sticky date pizza was why I wanted to visit Pizza Espresso in the first place, so I had to order that for dessert. The sticky date pizza was a small sized pizza covered in lashings of butterscotch sauce, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. This pizza was nice and crispy and the butterscotch sauce was good. It was very rich and I wasn’t able to finish it all. Iron Chef Shellie mentioned that she was disappointed that there weren’t actual dates on the pizza, but I didn’t mind it the way it was.

Sticky date pizzetta with butterscotch sauce $9.50

Hubby ordered the tiramisu which he thought was fantastic. It was like a sponge cake with a layer of cream in the middle – very light without a strong coffee flavour.

Homemade tiramisu $8.50

Kat let me try some of her mini calzone with white chocolate and caramel. I like the melted filling, but the crust was a bit chewy.

Pacca Sorpresa with white chocolate & caramel $9.50

Overall: Our sausage pizza was a miss, but I liked the goat’s cheese ravoli and the speck, gorgonzola and pear pizza. The desserts were quite good too. However, I thought the prices are a bit high for the size and amount of ingredients on the savoury pizzas.

Would I return? Probably not, as it is a bit too far away but if I did, I would get the speck pizza and goat’s cheese ravoli again.

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

Quick Lunch: N Lee Bakery, Melbourne CBD

N Lee Bakery Café
62 Little Collins Street, Melbourne VIC


Kat from spatulaspoonandsaturday asked if I wanted to check out a recommended banh mi (Vietnamese baguette) place for lunch and even though it is all the way on the other side of the city from my work, I went along. These Vietnamese rolls can be found in abundance at places like Richmond, Springvale and Footscray, but I never knew there was somewhere to buy them in the city.

My major complaint with the Vietnamese rolls I’ve had in the past is that the bread is way too crusty, cutting into my mouth as I take a bite. The ones I have had also are quite stingy on the pork, often having way too many vegetables for me to be able to taste the pork.

N Lee Bakery Café is located on Little Collins Street, between Exhibition & Spring Streets. There are a few tables inside for you to eat in, but the majority of people seem to take away. There is a selection of the Vietnamese rolls as well as normal sandwiches, all made to order fresh. There is also a hot food section.

The hot food

N Lee Bakery Café makes all their bread fresh daily and it is obvious from the crusty but not hard outer and soft inner of their bread rolls. I was going to get the traditional pork roll, but I was drawn to the chicken skewers that were in the bain marie so I got a chicken skewer roll. The standard filling is a spread of pate and egg butter, thinly sliced lengths of cucumber, shredded carrots and coriander, plus whatever filling you choose. The roll was delicious! The bread was so fresh and the chicken was so tasty.

Vietnamese roll with chicken skewer $6.50

Kat ordered the meat ball roll, which had broken up pieces of meatballs as the meat filling. She loved her roll too.

Vietnamese roll with meatballs $6

Kat also got some spring rolls which were thin, but long and filled with chicken, prawn and vegetables (mostly carrots). These were very nice.

Spring rolls $1 each

N Lee Bakery Café also have a sweets section with items such as croissants, custard tarts, donuts and vanilla slice. I bought a chocolate jam donut to take away and have as my afternoon snack. The donut was very soft, but I found it had too much jam inside.

The sweets cabinet

Overall: A great quick lunch place serving fresh, delicious Vietnamese rolls. Prices are a bit more than what you would pay in other banh mi places in the suburbs, but it is cheaper than buying a western style baguette in the city.

Would I return? Yes, it is worth my trip across the city.

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

A birthday cupcake tower

On the weekend, it was my dear nephew J’s first birthday party. My sister in law reads my food blog and has been the recipient of a few of my baked goodies, so she asked if I was interested in making cupcakes for J’s birthday. I happily agreed to until she told me that there were about 50 adults and 20 kids attending! Panic set in at having to make so many cupcakes, and hubby thought I was crazy, but I saw it as a challenge!

The first step was to choose the flavours. As I had so many cupcakes to make, I decided on only having two flavours – vanilla and cookies & cream. I also had to choose the type of cupcake papers to use. They had to be appropriate for the occasion and as well as match with each other. I got my cupcake papers from Cake Deco in the city – they have a huge range of cake supplies.

There was also the problem of how I was going to transport all the cupcakes. Lucky I had previously bought a Cupcake Courier which holds up to 36 cupcakes. I had to purchase another 24 cupcake carrier from Costco, which was $17.99. I have also seen them sold at House for $29.99 in case you don’t have a Costco membership. The 24 mini cupcakes fit in a square container.

Another issue was how to display such a large number of cupcakes. I did a Google search and found Tracey’s Cake Stands who hires out cupcake stands for a reasonable price without having to purchase cupcakes too. The only thing is that they are all the way out in Somerville (in between Frankston and Mornington).

I had to have the cupcakes ready by 12pm on Saturday, so on Friday night after work, I set about baking the cupcakes. I underestimated the time I needed to make and bake 60 cupcakes (5 x 12) and 24 mini ones (so basically 6 batches). Part of the reason is because I have a hand held mixer which can only mix one 12 cupcake batch at a time and a small oven which I trust which can only bake the 12 cupcakes at a time! I do have a bigger 90cm oven, but I don’t use it very often and my cupcakes always come out looking like volcanos. My smaller convection oven always produces flat top cupcakes.

I ended up staying up til 2am baking – I really have to get a stand mixer and work out how to get flat top cupcakes in my 90cm oven before I agree to make so many cupcakes again! I had to wait until all the cupcakes cooled, then store them in an airtight container ready to be iced the next morning.

I used a vanilla buttercream icing for the vanilla cupcakes and piped them on with a large star tip (Wilton 1M). I melted milk chocolate to pipe out the number “1” on baking paper, then put them in the fridge to harden before putting them on top of the vanilla cupcakes.


The cookies & cream cupcakes were chocolate flavoured and had half an Oreo at the bottom. I made a vanilla buttercream icing, then added in crushed Oreo cookies until I was happy with colour of the cookies & cream icing. I used a plain large round tip to pipe on the icing, then sprinkled more crushed Oreo crumbs over the top.


The mini cupcakes were basically the same, half vanilla, half cookies & cream, but topped with an m&m.


I was very pleased with the icing results since it was my first time piping icing in these swirls! I was proud of my achievement considering I only started baking about 6 months ago! It felt very rewarding to get all the awesome compliments from the people at the party about my cupcakes!


Over & Out, Rilsta xx

Recipe: Gluten free chocolate flourless cupcakes

Before I started this blog, I remember thinking when eating a flourless chocolate cake, how can they make it without flour? Oh, how “foodly” naive I was! :) I now know that almond meal is used as a substitute instead of flour!

Recently when Mrs L, her hubby Mr S & her gorgeous son Mr N came over, I was hunting for gluten free foods as Mrs L has celiac disease, where she can’t have gluten or wheat in her diet. I really feel for Mrs L as I found so many foods were prohibited because they contain gluten. I was making normal cupcakes for everyone else, but I didn’t want Mrs L to miss out so I was determined to find a gluten free cupcake recipe. Many gluten free cake recipes called for a whole lot of egg whites but I managed to find one on a random forum that used whole eggs.

Gluten free chocolate flourless cupcakes
Makes 12


Ingredients
105g unsalted butter, chopped
135g dark chocolate, chopped
150g castor sugar
50g almond meal, sifted
40g cocoa, sifted
3 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract


Method
1. Preheat oven to 140C.

2. Combine butter, chocolate and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Mix continuously with a wooden spoon until melted and smooth. I did this in the microwave making sure I used medium heat, short burst and stirred regularly.

3. Sift almond meal and cocoa into a bowl and add chocolate mixture. Beat until thoroughly combined on low speed.


4. Add one egg at a time, beating after each addition until mixture is well combined. Do not overbeat or too much air will be incorporated.


5. Bake for 30-40mins until skewer comes out clean. Mine were in for 34 minutes (I have a digital countdown clock)



Results: The cupcakes were cracked in the middle, some of them all the way to the bottom. Does anybody know why this happened? Despite the way they looked, they tasted so decadently chocolatey! They were on the bitter side because of all the dark chocolate in the recipe – great for dark chocolate lovers. The texture was quite dense and thick, but still light and fluffy at the same time, pretty similar to a brownie. Mrs L loved them and took the remainder home!


Would I make them again? Yes, I really liked them.

Over & Out, Rilsta xx

Review: Petaling Street, Hawthorn

Petaling Street
704a Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn VIC
(03) 9818 0428

Cuisine: Malaysian
BYO: Not yet
Prices: Entrées $3-$9.80, main dishes $13.80-$16.80, noodles $8.90-$10.90, rice dishes $8.90-$10.90
Parking: Along Glenferrie Road, large car park behind restaurant


A few weeks ago, I noticed a new Malaysian restaurant on Glenferrie Road in Hawthorn, between Burwood and Barkers Road. The real Petaling Street is the home of Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is infamous for market stalls selling pirated (fakes) clothes, accessories, DVDs and CDs, but the area also has a lot of restaurants and food stalls. At Hawthorn’s Petaling Street, there are no pirated goods, but there is a long list of Malaysian favourites on the menu.

Hubby and I have actually been here twice and I am combining the two visits into this one post. The first visit, we bought a bottle of wine, and even though the writing on the door states BYO, the waitress informed us that they haven’t got their licence yet so we weren’t allowed to open the bottle. The second visit was only two weeks later so we didn’t bother bringing any wine with us.

There is a good selection of individual rice and noodle dishes as well as mains for you to share. We were drawn to the individual dishes both times and got a couple of entrées to share. They always seem to be out of their entrées though – the first visit they had sold out of (or didn’t have) the squid, the lor bak, curry puffs or roti chanai. The second visit they were out of the lor bak and the curry puffs!

On the first visit, we only tried one entrée - the roti chicken roll. It is basically satay chicken, cucumber and tomato with a satay sauce, wrapped up in a roti to resemble a roll. Sounds like a delicious concept, but this roti chicken was just way too oily. The chicken tasted deep fried and I wouldn’t be surprised if the roti itself was deep fried too. We both felt really queasy after eating this from the oil overload.

Roti chicken roll $9.80

Inside the roti chicken roll

The second visit we got two entrées. The first was the deep fried honey squid. I liked the sweetness of the batter but it didn’t go well with the squid. The batter would have tasted better with chicken. The squid was relatively tender, but it was overshadowed by the thick batter and again the dish was swimming in oil.

Honey deep fried squid $6

The second entrée was the roti chanai. I was pleased to see a substantial amount of sauce for dipping, but the curry sauce was pretty ordinary. The roti was lacking the crisp outer so it was more like a pancake.

Roti chanai with curry sauce $5

Over the two visits, we tried 4 different noodle dishes (all requested without bean shoots!). The first dish we ordered was the char kuay teow. Hubby and I both looked at each other and went “Whoa!” when the noodles were placed in front of us – it was HUGE! The noodles had a nice smoky flavour and was very tasty. The huge serving was mostly noodles, but there was also a couple of prawns, some fish cake, chinese sausage and clams. These noodles would have been nice but again, too oily, which ruined the otherwise tasty dish.

Fried koay teow – Malaysia hawker type rice noodles with seafood & bean shoots $8.90

The next dish was the mamak mee goreng. Another huge serving, but mostly made up of noodles and also having a couple of prawns, some fishcake, bits of chicken and tomato. These noodles however, were quite bland – like a number of ingredients were left out of the sauce. We only finished about a third of the dish, partly because we were full from the other food, and partly because we didn’t like it. We didn’t even bother to take the remainder away like we usually would. For a laugh, I used some of the remaining noodles to spell out what I thought of it, but of course didn’t leave it there for the waiters to find! Let’s just say it what I wrote rhymes with ducks.

Mamak mee goreng – Malaysia hawker type spicy egg noodles with seafood, chicken,
bean curd & bean shoots $8.90

The combination rice noodles (hor fun) we ordered gave us a bit of hope for the place. Big serve again, but there was more than enough sauce to mix through the noodles. There is nothing worse than not enough sauce for these noodles! We didn’t mind this dish, a bit on the bland side, but at least it wasn’t oily!

Combination hor fun – Malaysia hawker type rice noodles with seafood, chicken
& vegetables $8.90

The last noodle dish was the tom yum vermicelli. Tom yum is usually saved for noodle soups, so I was interested to see what this was like. The tom yum flavour was very potent, you could smell it from a mile away, but I actually liked it. The noodles weren’t oily but there were clumps of tom yum paste which wasn’t mixed through the noodles properly. I might return for this dish if I had a tom yum craving.

Tom yum fried noodle – Thai fried vermicelli with prawn, chicken & bean shoots $8.90

Overall: I held high expectations for this restaurant as I love Malaysian food and it is in my local area. Perhaps that’s why I gave it the benefit of the doubt and came back again even though the food wasn’t that good the first time. I normally don’t return to a restaurant if I didn’t think the food was good – I don’t want to waste my precious calories eating bad food! The second visit wasn’t really enough to make me return for a third visit. The prices are good and the serving sizes generous, but their motto seems to be quantity over quality and the food being too oily is a common theme.

The best dish was the tom yum vermicelli and the worst dish was the mamak mee goreng.

Would I return? No, unless I am feeling really lazy and after a quick takeaway dinner close to home and craving Malaysian.

Over & Out, Rilsta xx