Medah Mediterranean Kitchen, Knox SC

We had a really lovely dinner the other night at Medah Mediterranean Kitchen at Westfield Knox. The Knox O-zone area was abuzz with activity, and full of lovely food smells wafting from the line of restaurant establishments.

Walking down the strip, one was indeed spoilt for choice. There is Mexican cuisine at Fonda's, Korean Fried Chicken at Gami's, dumplings from Angie's Dumpling Kitchen, Thai food from Kinn Thai and dozens of other restaurants. It's just a shame that Dragon Boat had closed their doors and there is a void for Cantonese food in the zone.

We visited Medah with a Groupon voucher for a meat platter and here is what we got:

A meat platter (indeed!) full of goodies - braised pork belly, pork sausages, beef ribs, roasted chicken and grilled lamb. There was tzatziki dip with pita bread and olives, and salad with feta cheese. The chips were delicious - so crispy, topped with feta cheese.

 

The grilled lamb was smoky and deliciously tender. We really enjoyed the warm pita bread with the tzatziki dip as well. The portion was just nice for a gluttonous pair! We finished everything on the platter, right down to the last olive.

We wanted tiramisu to finish, but they had ran out so we chose the chocolate volcano dessert instead. It was warm and oozing with rich chocolate - so irresistible! Topped with an Oreo cookie, and ice cream on the side (which was also topped with crunchy cookie crumb, yum!), it was the perfect sort of dessert to end the meal with!

Beansprout Soup, Kongnamulguk

This soup is almost fat free and is great in bringing out the crunchiness of the bean sprouts. And it's easy peasy too!

This is my version of beansprout soup, or kongnamulguk in Korean.

250g beansprouts, soaked beforehand and any brown ones discarded
3 cups of water
7 dried anchovies
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
Half an onion, sliced
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
2 teaspoons of Korean red pepper flakes
Half a cup of clam meat

Bring everything but the clam meat to a boil, then lower to medium heat and boil for 30 minutes.

Add clam meat and season with salt, boil for another 10 minutes. Ready to serve!

Himalayan Salt Block

These Himalayan salt blocks are so pretty! Himalayan salt is naturally pink because it contains trace minerals such as potassium and calcium while table salt contains only sodium chloride.

The salt is mined at the foot of the Himalaya mountains in Pakistan and is made into bowls, chopping boards, lamps and so on.

They look like rose quartz to me and I would just love to have a block at home for serving sushi!

Chicken Abalone Congee

Look at these beauties!! Three abalones, weighing around 80g each and half a palm in size. It has been a while since I bought canned abalones and even then I have never seen the contents of the can let alone tasted it. They were always bought as gifts for relatives from abroad.

There are several types of canned abalones with difference in the size and number of abalones per can and of course, the price. The shopkeeper taught me how to check the print on the top of the can that will show the number of abalone in the can, and the license or factory from where the abalones are packed.

I put the can to good use for chicken abalone congee.

1kg chicken wings
3 cups of uncooked rice, soaked overnight
1.5 litres of water
Can of abalone, reserve stock for the congee

I placed the chicken wings and water in a pot to boil for forty five minutes or so, then removed all the wings to debone and de-skin.

Skim the broth to remove all oil and fat. If I had used chicken breast, I could have skipped this step but I find that using chicken wings results in a tastier broth because the flavour is where the bones are.

Use the chicken broth to cook the rice, until soft and disintegrated. Stir in the pieces of deboned and deskinned chicken. Lastly, stir in the abalone stock from the can.

Thinly slice the abalone and serve with congee. You can also stir the abalone in with the congee but we found that it becomes tougher when heated through, so we prefer it on the side or just on top of the congee. Yummy!!

Anniversary Trail

When my mind is addled, the days blur into one and there just isn't enough hope in the world, I just feel like walking. Walking to no particular destination, with no specific timeframe is the best thing for me. Imagine a sealed path that goes on for ages, spanning 14 kms through various suburbs - that is gold. And that is what the Anniversary Trail or the Outer Circle Trail is. 

Because the trail is just too long, we started at Deepdene and walked to Camberwell. It's not very far, probably just a few kms to and from but I loved this trail so much that I might come back one day on my own and cover a greater distance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Circle_Trail