Moon’s Fresh Sushi, Dulwich Hill

Dulwich Hill is a fabulous suburb to live in, with Vietnamese, Thai, Lebanese, Pakistani, Chinese and Portuguese restaurants, plus plenty of excellent cafes, delis, butchers and patisseries. There are times, however, that I simply need sushi. So I am very very happy to announce that Dulwich Hill now has its own sushi restaurant!

Confit duck dumplings fried in duck fat

I am obsessed with few things in life, but duck and dumplings are definitely two of them. While shopping for ingredients to make dumplings the other evening, I had the GENIUS idea to combine the two. Even more brilliant, I got my friends to help make them! They didn’t quite turn out quite as prettily as my usual dumplings (I’ve had a lot of practice) but it was great fun. We also made some spinach and tofu Ladakhi mokmok (aka momos in Tibet or Nepal), which I’ll post separately for the vegematarians 🙂

Homemade gluten and wheat-free Scottish oatcakes recipe

To me, there is no better savoury biscuit than the humble oatcake. With pate, jam or even a simple scrape of butter, the oatcake provides a crunchy, crumbly, earthy goodness to whatever your topping. They’re also perfect on a cheese platter as a more wholesome, gluten-free/wheat-free alternative to crackers. (My little babies worked out to be only one gram of net carbs per oatcake! Yeah.)

Delicious little baby manoush (Lebanese pizzas) with lamb or shangleesh

Oh! Manoush, how I love thee! With all due respect to l’Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, these babies are the best pizzas this outside of the Mediterranean. On a cold morning at my local Al Cheik Bakery in Lakemba, it’s always a hard task to decide between the fragrant manoush lahem pizza or the salty, creamy goodness of shangleesh* cheese encased in soft, sweet dough.

Crispy smoked paprika chicken wingettes with aioli

This recipe is featured on Masterchef Food Hub

I asked for advice from many people and did a lot of internet research to find out how to make my chicken wings super crunchy. And let me tell you, there is a lot of information out there. Overall, it seems to boil down to three main aspects:

1. Removing moisture from the wings prior to cooking
2. Using some kind of baking powder in the dry rub
3. Roasting over a rack in a hot oven

So, here is my version of crispy wings, using these three key elements. I used 1.5kg wings per batch, with the tip removed and cut into two (as in my honey soy chicken wingettes).

Easy entertaining canapés: Deconstructed Peking duck ‘pancakes’ and baby pear and walnut salad bites

So last night was my hopemonth canapé party which raised over $800 for Hope Street – woo! I’ll be posting the cooked canapé recipes individually, but these cold canapés which I invented were so easy and really, really popular. Perfect for easy, no cook starters to serve before a barbecue or dinner party.

Honey soy chicken wingettes

Here is a modified version of mut jup mun gai yik – smaller, less saucy pieces cooked in the oven make this version easier to eat, easier to cook and perfect for party food.

Bo La Lot – Beef in Betel Leaf

I adapted this recipe from Luke Ngyuyen’s recipe. Bo la lot make a fantastic finger food which can be eaten either piping hot, or just warm. I should call my version ‘roo la lot’, as I actually used kangaroo mince instead of beef.

Recipe for Miang Khum – Thai Betel Leaf Parcels

I absolutely love the betel leaf parcels with prawn (miang goong) which I’ve tried at various Thai restaurants in Sydney and have been looking forward to trying to make my own. I happened to spot fresh betel leaves in Marrickville the other day and grabbed a bunch with which to experiment – excitement central!!!