marvin lowe photography

Being inspired by the traditional crispy peking duck dish, and Isshin’s chicken wraps, I decided to create my own roast chicken wraps. I didn’t managed to achieve the crispy-ness desired, but having tweaked it several times, I have settled on letting it be moist, ‘drenching’ the shredded chicken pieces in the marinade and its own jus.

Roast Chicken & Chicken Wraps
Ingredients: (makes about 8 big wraps or 26 mini-wraps) 

1          medium-sized chicken (or 3 chicken thighs)
3          garlic cloves, minced
1tb       olive oil
1/4cup  light soy sauce
3tb       dark soy sauce
1tb       sesame oil
3tb       honey
1tb       chinese shao xing wine
1tb       ginger juice
2tb       five spice powder
16        2-inch pieces of spring onions
8          large pieces of spring roll skin
            hoi sin sauce

1. Saute the minced garlic in olive oil.
2. Marinade chicken with garlic, soy suace, sesame oil, honey, wine, 
   ginger juice and five-spice powder, overnight (or for at least
   2 hours). If there is too little marinade, add 1/2 to 2 tablespoons
   of each of these seasonings.
3. Pierce the chicken in multiple places with a fork to allow more
   thorough cooking of the chicken. Roast the chicken the next day,
   at 150 degree celsius.
4. Cool and shred the chicken.
5. Smear each piece of spring roll skin with hoi sin sauce, place
    2 pieces of spring onion, the shredded chicken meat and the
    marinade juices, on each spring roll skin.
6. Wrap the ingredients up tightly, and serve.
7. Alternatively, heat the wraps up in the microwave for about
   1min, to heat and soften the (uncooked) spring roll skins.

        Yesterday, Cheryl graciously treated Gweex and myself to lunch as it would be one of the last times she could stay over at our place before we graduate. All of us have been rather intrigued by this cafe for some time. So, to satisfy our curiousity, we indulged and had a rather filling lunch.

        Being greedy (as usual), we ordered 4 items for the 3 of us to share. We weren’t sure of the portions, but as we soon found out, all came as mains accompanied by a cold salad of arugula, cous cous, raisins, red onions slices and capsicum strips. All 4 dishes were A$13.90 each, except for the crabmeat and noodle cakes (A$14.90).

       I didn’t have high expectations of the place, thinking it was another over-hyped “designer-cafe”. And I heard that the standard had slipped a little over the years. However, 3 of the 4 dishes were pretty decent. The fried dukkah chicken pieces were coated with indian spices, were relatively tasty, and subtly spiced. However, they were extremely tough and difficult to chew. I suspect this is due to the ‘pre-cooking’ of the food and leaving them in the transparent counter shelves, re-heating them only when customers order them. This marred the presentation of the dishes slightly, as most appeared a little too brown, but none were burnt, thankfully. So, I was not that impressed with this dish overall.

Dukkah-spiced Chicken

       The arancini, or the risotto ball (in our case it was pear-shaped), was the clear disappointment of the 4. It was a tomato-based risotto, with a mozzarella center. It was only so-so, and while decent, was hardly outstanding in any way. This was the only dish left unfinished.

Arancini with a mozzarella center

      The crabmeat and noodle cake was surprisingly good. It was well complemented by the “sticky-soy and ginger infusion” (sort of a kecap manis and ginger dip). It was tasty, with a nice balance between the soft crabmeat and the springy tenacity of the vermicelli. This was a clear favourite amongst us.

Crabmeat and Noodle Cakes

      Finally, the spinach and ricotta cannelloni (similar to a lasagne i think), was the dish that surprised me. Usually, I’m more inclined towards olive-oil or cream-based pastas, as I find tomato-based sauces too ‘jer-lah’ for me. However, the creamy ricotta was so inviting in this baked dish, that I probably ate half of it. The dish was not innovative, but I think it surpassed my expectations, probably having used a lighter tomato base (from whole peeled tomatoes, without too much tomato paste?).

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

      Overall, the place was not as bad as I thought. It could definitely do better with warm, ‘just-cooked’ food, but I think the concept behind the cafe is to cater to functions and take-away picnic food, so the ‘pre-cooking’ thing does make sense. I might go back again, but only for a few select dishes.

151a Rokeby Road,
Subiaco, Perth
+61 08 63802000

       These are shots taken over my 4 years in Perth: “Winter”- taken in UWA, “Spring”- Ee-lin at Cottesloe Beach, “Summer” in Subiaco, and “Autumn”- one of the nature reserves down South.

Happy Birthday my dear!! May you continue to grow in His wisdom and likeness as He pours His blessings over you. Although I’m not there to spend it with you, may your day be filled with joy, fun and laughter. I thank God for you, for all that you have done, and for the man that you are.

With lots of love,

me.

Happy diners

VinnytheMarv: We decided to skip one of the night rallies to spend some time with Gwenda (my sis), who was graciously hosting us at her pad. We stayed home that night and Mich cooked a simple meal for the 3 of us.

Jazzfoodie: Dinner was quite late, but thanks Gwenda for your help with prepping the ingredients!

Minty Pea Soup

V: First up was the Minty Pea soup. I love this soup even though i hate peas.=p I like the way it’s so smooth and i don’t really get to taste the peas itself. The mint probably took away most of that nasty pea taste and that made it really easy on the tastebuds too. The peas were blended into smithereens making it a really smooth yet creamy soup to drink. The mushrooms in it made it even better.

J: This was an aforementioned dish, done countless times, because it’s easy and quick (adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe which was more complicated and probably tastier). My version was rather simplified.
1. Dice a medium-sized onion and chop finely a bunch of mint leaves. Saute these in 2 tablespoons of butter.
2. Stir in 500g of frozen (Bird’s Eye brand) Mint Baby Peas.
3. Pour in 1L of chicken stock and bring to boil.
4. After cooling the soup, blend it all together.
5. Add in sliced white button mushrooms and 1 cup of thickened cream. Bring to the boil again, then it’s ready to serve.

Prawn Risotto

V: Next up was the Prawn with Mushroom Risotto. The Risotto was made using prawn stock. This made the risotto very rich in flavour. We did not have much prawns with us, but the additional frozen prawns bought later (and thus, more shells) helped to make a creamier and richer risotto. It was a lovely dish with a delightful taste.

J: The prawn stock was made by 1. frying the prawn heads and shells in oil, 2. adding the chicken stock to the pan with the shells, 3. bringing to boil and subsequently simmering for at least 15mins, finally, 4. strain the stock.

Chinese Roast Chicken

V: Then we had a roast chicken that was marinated with herbs. I love roast meats of all kinds. This roast chicken was well roasted and managed to take in the essence of the marinade. I took the leg as usual and devoured it with glee. muahaha. We didn’t finish the whole chicken but kept some for lunch the next day. We used the remaining chicken to make a wrap. This really remind me of peking duck, partly because of the wrap and the hoi sin sauce that we used.

J: Basically, the marinade consisted of minced garlic, sliced coriander, soy sauce and a little honey. The mariande was rubbed over the chicken and inside the chicken; the chicken was also stuffedwith a few pieces of spring onion, and was roasted at about 160 degree celsius.