LAST HOORAH! - VLOG TIME!

GROUP VLOG

Well, sadly our time together is drawing to a close. The last piece of this puzzle was to create a vlog based on our blog...huh, sounds cool to say.

  

The whole premise of our blog was to explore the different cultures in which we were all from, purely as a result of the diversity of our group. After we finished our individual cultural food reviews, we decided to finish off with, rather than showing whats different about our cultures...to join in unison and experience a culture none of us were familiar with. The purpose of this? To, rather than showing pictures of what we were all eating, actually be there together and experience something different. 

Nick, Lucas, Melanie, Malika and Raissa all played an equal an integral role in organising, planning  and developing ideas for the blog and video. 

On the day each of us played an equal role in the filming. 

Based on the comfort level of everyone's editing and internet, Nick decided to do the editing and uploading.

We at the international foods team, hope you enjoyed your time reading this blog and viewing the video. 

- Nick, Raissa, Malika, Melanie & Lucas : international foods  

Indian Food Review 4 - Cheese Naan

Cuisine – Indian

Category- Entrée/ appetizer

Name- Cheese naan

Where to get it- Indian restaurants

Who wants to be on a diet when you can indulge in a nice, hot, bread bursting with cheese, spices and chili flakes- which ooze out?

Cheese Naan is one entrée/side that my friends and I over indulge in due to it’s simple yet overly satisfy taste. It reminds me of a cheese pizza sometimes, but so much better, especially when you pair it up with it’s best friend- butter chicken(as reviewed previously).

Cheese naan, can be ordered and complimented to any main meal curry, such as a spicy lamb or chicken curry to assist in soothing the spicy fiesta in your mouth, or it can be ordered as a sole entrée associated with some cooling cucumber raita, mango chutney and a spicy salsa. Dips work beautifully with the cheese naan, as they help compliment the taste itself, but also help to bring down the cheesiness ( if you ever want that to go down that is) of the bread.

- Malika

Filipino Food Review 4 - Pork Sinigang

Cuisine: filipino
Category: Main dish
Name: Sinigang na baboy (Pork Sinigang)
Where to get it: Any filipino restaurant or you can make your own at home!

If there was one dish that i could eat every day for the rest of my life, this dish would definitely be it, hands down! My love for this dish is unexplainable. Sinigang is a unique main dish of the Philippines. It is a filipino soup which has tamarind as its main ingredient, giving it a sour and savoury taste.

There are many different types of sinigang. There is pork sinigang, as well as chicken, prawn and fish sinigang. The chef can make the sinigang as they choose, with whatever staple meat they want, however, upon having tried all, the one i keep going back to is the pork one. But pork is not the only ingredient in this dish, there is also a variety of vegetables which, again can be modified to suit the chef's taste. Commonly, however, these vegetables include taro balls, kangkong (water spinach), Snake/string beans and bokchoy (Chinese spinach).

This dish can be made easily and is usually a popular filipino favourite that is eaten as an ordinary everyday meal such as lunch or dinner. It is best served with white rice, with the soup in a separate bowl, for a full packed punch of tamarind sourness and flavour! For anyone interested in immersing themselves in the filipino culture, this dish is a definite try and i promise you, you will be surprised at how good this tastes.

To make this meal, watch this video!

- Raissa

Indian food review 3- Gulab Jamun

Cuisine- Indian
Category- dessert
Name- Gulab jamun
Where to get it- Indian restaurants

When you’re in the mood for something sweet to satisfy your taste buds but chocolate or ice cream just wont cut it, where do you go? What do you eat?

Ever heard of gulab jamun?
Gulab Jamun is an Indian dessert, which is best served hot and in my opinion with a nice scoop of ice-cream to compliment the heat- especially on those warm summer nights.

On a theoretical level, they are Spongy milky balls soaked in a rose scented syrup but on a foodie level, they are warm-sponge like golden balls drizzled with sticky, sweet, rosey syrup. Your mouth by now should be watering which means you're in the mood to try these vivacious creations.

The trick, if i may say so myself, is to ensure the syrup is not saccharine sweet as it draws away from the mild sweetness of the dumplings themselves. You can almost, just almost relate them to donuts, but without the doughy feel.

I recommend trying these babies out next time you're in the mood for something hot with a sweet touch. My favourite place to try them is at Urban tadka, but various restaurants around your neighbourhood have them, but in my opinion the venues that make them fresh are the best ones to go to.

- Malika

Pacific Island Food Review 4 : Revo Salad

 Thriving in the islands, edible seaweed is one food that’s loved by islanders and has many names to it including Revo. It is eaten in various ways and in this picture shared, revo salad is made when the seaweed is layered with tuna, onions and tomatoes and then milked with fresh coconut milk. This mixture enables us to taste the sweet creamy coconut milk with the salty taste of the seaweed. The tuna and vegetables compliment the taste. It’s not the usual salad but it’s worth having. I guess having seaweed salad from any shushi restaurant in Sydney could substitute the feeling of having revo salad but it wouldn’t be really have the same taste to it.

In the islands where locals get to harvest it straight from the sandy banks and wash it in the sea to be eaten with chunks of the fresh coconut meat, or even eaten with sweet potatoes or cassava! :)

Photos used courtesy of G.Galo 

-Melanie-

Chinese Food Reviews 4: Seri Muka

Chinese/Malaysian Food Review

Seri Muka

Seri Muka is another fine dish from the land of Malaysia; it is what I’d call a light dessert, kind of like an appetizer but for dessert.

The dessert consists of two main parts: the bottom half is steamed glutinous and the top is green custard made with Pandan essence (this is what gives it the green). Coconut milk is also a key ingredient when making this dish.

As far as cooking this dish goes, the rice base is steamed with coconut milk until it solidifies a little. The custard is than made by blending the custard powder, water, sugar, eggs, pandan essence, coconut milk and flour. The custard is heated and than poured over the rice in the steamer and left to complete cook.

The texture of the dessert is super soft and kind of smooth to eat, the flavours are mildly sweet but definitely noticeable. The pandan essence is the main flavour but the creamy flavour of the milky rice pudding balances out well with it.

Overall a must try dish, with a striking appearance and flavours very unique and enjoyable. I’d expect to find similar dishes in Malaysian restaurants and market stands.

Picture were taken at home on my iPhone :)

-Lucas

Chinese Food Review 3: Laksa

Chinese/Malaysian Food Review

Laksa

Laksa is the kind of dish that screams Asian; it’s a spicy noodle soup originating from Malaysia. It’s a pretty popular dish that can be made at home (with the right ingredients), found at markets as well as most Asian restaurants.

The version of Laksa that I had was homemade and was made of Rice Vermicelli, broccoli, fish balls, coconut milk, tofu, egg and A LOT of spices and seasonings for the soup.

The dish is prepared by cooking the components separately i.e. the noodles, soup and everything else. The soup is a mixture of onion, ginger, sugar, salt, Galangal, Lemongrass, Chilli, Garlic, Shrimp, Candle Nut, Turmeric and curry leaves. Once all prepared the cooked ingredients are put together into a bowl ready to be served.

The dish itself is amazing; all of the ingredients soak up extra flavour from the soup. The taste of the soup is hard to describe just because there are so many flavours that blend so well together. It’s a distinct taste that’s definitely spicy, sweet, mildly sour and just super rich in flavour from all the spices. I also found that the soup dries out your mouth a little bit but all it does is make you want to have more because it’s so tasty.

The noodles are soft and melt in your mouth with little chewing, the fish balls have a kind of spring feel to them and the tofu is literally like eating a sponge, but a good sponge that’s soaked in Asian goodness.

To sum up, the Laksa has intense flavours that mix very well together and the textures from different components of the dish make for a delicious dish.

Picture were taken at home on my iPhone :)

-Lucas

Chinese Food Review 2: Zongzi/Sticky Rice Dumplings

Chinese/Malaysian Food Review

Zongzi (sticky Rice Dumplings): Glutinous Rice with pork belly, Mung beans, Shitake Mushrooms, and Chestnut wrapped in Bamboo Leaf.

Zongzi or Zong for short is a traditional Chinese dish not so common in Australia, it is traditionally eaten around late may to mid June for the annual Duanwu Festival they are available all year round in Chinese communities.

The dish itself comes in a triangular pyramid shaped bamboo leaf package. Most Zong can have a variety of filling, such as chicken shredded pork, taro and chinese sausage, the one that I was served had inside it is a fusion of sticky rice, pork belly, tons of secret spices, shitake mushroom, chestnut, mung beans and a salty egg. All that I really know about the cooking process is that the ingredients are compacted together inside the bamboo leaf, tied together with string and than steamed/boiled.

The end result is a delicious, sticky mix of goodness. As for taste I’d say it’s an acquired taste, savoury and salty (especially that egg). Each component of the dish really shows its flavour especially through that steaming/boiling process. The portion size of the dish, although small in appearance, is actually super filling and quite dense.

The dish is not very common around Australia but can probably be found in specialist Asian restaurants or Asian markets, places such as Eastwood and Cabramatta are probably your best bet.

Picture were taken at home on my iPhone :)

-Lucas