Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10–15 minutes

Equipment:
Measuring cups and spoons
Chopping board
Medium bowl
Strainer
Vegetable peeler
Medium saucepan
Kitchen knife
1. Place noodles in a medium heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to stand for 2–3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat the chicken stock in a medium saucepan. While stock simmers, add the carrots and cook 2–3 minutes.
3. Add the chicken breast strips and corn kernels and cook for 1 minute. Add celery, soy sauce and noodles. Simmer very gently
for 2–3 minutes or until chicken is cooked—don’t let it boil.  Season to taste and simmer for 30 seconds.
4. Ladle into warm serving bowls and top with sliced green onions and a few drops of sesame oil, if using.

Tip: Add a few sugar snap or snow peas for more colour and goodness. You’ll find pre-cut chicken breast strips at the supermarket in the poultry section.

Kung-Hay-Fat-Choietest1

They’d arrange to meet friends there and we kids would sit at a separate table, well away from the grown-ups, and have a ball.

According to Annette Shun Wah and Greg Aitkin in their fascinating book, Banquet – Ten Courses to Harmony,  Lean Sun Low was in fact the first Chinese restaurant to open in Dixon Street, operating from the 1920s on the site where the Eastern August Moon is now located.
These were among our first dining out experiences and I recall that the staff were very friendly. As Shun Wah points out, Westerners rarely ventured into Chinatown in those days and the Chinese community there was close-knit.
I’ve often wondered if it was my mother’s Chinese inheritance that unconsciously lured her there. Her grandfather, Ah Way, had come to Australia from Canton – or Guangzhou – in the 1860s to take part in the Queensland gold rush (Guangzhou is the birthplace of Cantonese cooking). She’d also take us shopping for fruit and vegies on Saturday mornings to Paddy’s Markets, right in the centre of Chinatwon.

Paddy's Market Haymarket Sydney

The menu at the Lean Sun Low was typically Cantonese – in those days in Sydney, we didn’t know that other regional cuisines existed.  As we grew older and became more adventurous, we’d try different dishes such as the delicious won ton soup.
Years later, we’d often gather at the New Tai Yuen where I always ordered the combination omelette. The New Tai Yuen was a favourite Labor hangout and we’d often spot former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam or Tom Uren or Neville Wran.
Today, we are truly spoilt for choice.

For the Chinese, red is a lucky colour

You can find lip-smacking green onion or pork pancakes at Mother Chu’s Taiwanese (for $2.50 – $3 each); sweet boat noodle soup thickened with chicken blood at Chat Thai; garlicky Russian salad and Uygur-style BBQ lamb skewers at Kiroran; and deep-fried lamb cutlets topped with roasted garlic, chillies, black beans and shallots at East Ocean.  Here, the menu has been overhauled to include dishes from other regions of China including Shanghai, Sichuan and Beijing.  Fusion dishes such as the West Australian snow crab stir-fried with goose liver pate and served with a glass of pinot noir will make you re-think your assumptions of traditional Cantonese cuisine, as will the wasabi prawns, an inspired dish of plump, crispy deep-fried prawns, coated with vivid green wasabi mayonnaise flecked with black sesame seeds. 

Hand-made Chinese noodles

You’ll find plenty of theatre in Chinatown too: you can watch hand-pulled noodles from Xinjiang being made at the Chinese Noodle Restaurant, sweet conical ‘roti tisu’ being shaped at Mamak and tiny warm cream puffs being moulded and filled at Emperor’s Garden Bakery (one of Sydney’s best bargains at 4 for $1).

Emperor's Puff

Sydney’s Chinatwon today is a banquet with choices as far ranging and wide as Asia itself, stretching from Turkey in the west to Japan in the far east.

Preheat oven to 180degC.  Line a slab tin (30cm x 20cm) with baking paper.
Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat on high speed for three minutes.  Spoon into lined tin and smooth the top.
Bake 25 – 30 minutes or until risen and a light gold colour.    Test for doneness with a skewer.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
When cool, place the traced map of Australia over the top of the cake and use a small sharp knife to cut out the shape.
Ice with chocolate icing and decorate with shredded coconut.
For the icing:
Sift together the icing sugar and cocoa. Make into a smooth icing with boiling water, vanilla and butter.  If icing thickens, add a little extra hot water.

Kanga burger

Hot Smoked Lemon Myrtle Crocodile?  Barramundi with Green Ants?  Wattleseed pavlova?
Just kidding.
But it’s odd, isn’t it, how we still shy away from using native Australian ingredients in our cuisine.
Here we live on a continent which offers up to 4,000 different varieties of edible bush foods, yet how many of them do we use in our actual cooking?
Kangaroo meat is one; barramundi another; the quandong a third.

Quandongs

You could stretch it to 40 or 50 if you include yabbies and some seafoods.
But really, who among us has tasted a Davidson Plum or a lillipilli or a red monkey nut?  We’ve all heard of witchetty grubs, but how many of us have eaten them.
What about the cheeky yam, emus, pigweed and wild rice?
And despite all the current talk about foraging, which of our leading chefs are making use of these foods?

Macadamias

Not only has Australia, in contrast to other continents, contributed almost no edible crops to the world food supply – one exception being the macadamia nut (and it took the Americans to grow it commercially) – but Australian immigrants have not incorporated anything native into their diets, unlike the American settlers who have at least embraced pumpkin, corn and cranberries from the native diet into their 21^st century diets.
We’ve been busily patting our back over the past decade or so for our acceptance and adaptations of different cuisines (Vietnamese, Thai, Brazilian, Chinese, Italian, Argentinian) while continuing to ignore what is all around us – and which, quite literally, often stares us in the face.
Over the past 220 years, we’ve not embraced a single aspect of Aboriginal cuisine,  yet we dare to talk about a developing Australian cuisine.
Absurd, isn’t it?

Gum nut blossom

1.   Heat a wok or heavy frying pan until hot.  Add the oil and when hot, add the onion.  Stir-fry for 1 – 2 minutes or until onion is softening and turning transparent.  Add garlic and chillies, stir-fry another minute.
2.  Add chicken strips and stir-fry until chicken turns white and is beginning to colour, about 3 – 4 minutes.  Add  beans and capsicum and stir-fry for another minute.  Add  the basil leaves and sauce, stir to combine.
3. Cover wok with a lid, turn heat to low and leave to simmer for one minute.  Serve immediately with steaming hot jasmine rice.

Tip:  You can use chicken thigh meat instead of breast, if you like – it is juicer. If you can’t find Thai holy basil, use Italian basil – wash and dry the basil thoroughly before using – a salad spin-dryer is handy for drying leaves.  The onion is cut so that the pieces fall into petal shapes.

Photo of Eloise Moore holding the Thai stir-fry dish we made in the kids cooking class during January 2012 school holidays.

Madi, one of my students, with her recipe in the "Junior Master Chef" book

My aim is to teach children to prepare a wholesome, nutritious meal which they love to eat and can reproduce easily at home. This is not celebrity chef restaurant-style food. Hygiene, nutrition – and loads of laughs – are also on the agenda. Classes are held in a charming domestic setting in North Sydney. The children eat the food they have prepared at the end of the class and take home whatever is left over.  I also take them into my cook’s garden to identify (and pick) organic vegies and herbs, weather permitting.

Dates for next classes:

Wednesday 18th – fully booked

Sang Choy Bow
Pizza
White Chocolate Blondies
Chocolate Rocks
Fruit Frappes

Friday 20th – a couple of spaces available

Bruschetta with various toppings
Thai-style Chicken, Capsicum and Basil Stir-Fry
Fruits of the Forest Crumble Cake
Triple Chocolate Brownies

M0nday 23rd – a few spaces available

Tacos
Watermelon Basket with Fruit Salad
Afghans (Yum Yums) or Rocky Road
Hummingbird Muffins

Wednesday 25th: Australia Day Menu

Home-made Sausage Rolls
Echidna Pavlova
Australia Day Lamington Cake
Fresh fruit smoothies & frappes

Eloise Moore, daughter of celebrity chef Michael Moore, with the stir-fry she made last week

Cost of classes: $65

Deposit of $30 required – I’ll send details sent when you make the booking.  I am based on the lower north shore, just over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Ages 8-16. Minimum of 8, maximum of 10 – 12 per class.

Please wear closed in shoes. Aprons & chef hats will be provided. I’ll provide all ingredients, recipes to take home, plenty of food to eat and an experienced child-friendly assistant
If you wish to join the class, there will be a charge – please contact me to find out details.

Kids Cooking classes are held during the school holidays for 8- 12 olds (depending on capability, allow a year either side).

In a serving bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime or lemon juice, honey and salt and pepper.
Cut the avocados in half. Twist to separate into halves, remove the stone (best done by hitting with a sharp kitchen knife and twisting to loosen). Using a small sharp knife, peel off the skin. Cut into attractive slices, being careful not to bruise and drop into the dressing.
Slice the top and bottom off the grapefruit and oranges. Stand on their base and using a downwards action, cut off the skin leaving no pith and with a small sharp knife, cut out the segments. Add to the avocado along with the washed and dried watercress. Toss gently to combine. Sprinkle the mint and pomegranate seeds (if using ) over the top.

Tip: use pink grapefruit when in season. Blood oranges are also marvellous but they have a limited season. For a more substantial dish, add some flaked fresh crab.

For the meatballs, put the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli into the blender with a little water and blend until they are almost liquified.
Combine the onion mixture together with the remaining ingredients and season to taste.
Shape into walnut-sized balls, roll in flour and then fry in hot oil. When cooked, remove the koftas and drain on paper towels.
For the raita: put the yogurt into a bowl. Mixthrough the cucumber, mint and onion. Add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and combine well.
Makes 30

Madi, one of my Mini Chef students, with her 2011 Junior Master Chef award

My aim is to teach children to prepare a wholesome, nutritious meal which they love to eat and can reproduce easily at home. This is not celebrity chef restaurant-style food. Hygiene, nutrition – and loads of laughs – are also on the agenda. Classes are held in a charming domestic setting in North Sydney. The children eat the food they have prepared at the end of the class and take home whatever is left over.  I also take them into my cook’s garden to identify (and pick) organic vegies and herbs, weather permitting.

Dates for next classes:

Friday 13th – a few spaces left

Chicken, Vegie and Hokkien Noodle Stir-Fry
Watermelon Basket with fruit salad
Raspberry, Coconut and White Chocolate Muffins
Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Wednesday 18th – fully booked

Sang Choy Bow
Pizza
White Chocolate Blondies
Chocolate Rocks
Fruit Frappes

Friday 20th – a few spaces available

Bruschetta with various toppings
Thai-style Chicken, Capsicum and Basil Stir-Fry
Fruits of the Forest Crumble Cake
Triple Chocolate Brownies

M0nday 23rd – a few spaces available

Tacos
Watermelon Basket with Fruit Salad
Afghans (Yum Yums) or Rocky Road
Hummingbird Muffins

Wednesday 25th: Australia Day Menu

Home-made Sausage Rolls
Echidna Pavlova
Australia Day Lamington Cake
Fresh fruit smoothies & frappes

Eloise Moore, daughter of celebrity chef Michael Moore, stir-frying in my kids cooking class yesterday

Cost of classes: $65

Deposit of $30 required – I’ll send details sent when you make the booking.  I am based on the lower north shore, just over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Ages 8-16. Minimum of 8, maximum of 10 – 12 per class.

Please wear closed in shoes. Aprons & chef hats will be provided. I’ll provide all ingredients, recipes to take home, plenty of food to eat and an experienced child-friendly assistant
If you wish to join the class, there will be a charge – please contact me to find out details.

Making Baked Eggs

Kids Cooking classes are held during the school holidays for 8- 12 olds (depending on capability, allow a year either side).

Christmas leftovers

It was groaning with all the usual suspects at this time of year: leftover turkey, ham, plum pudding and ice cream.
I started with the turkey, as it was taking up most of the room – stripped it of meat and put the bones into a stockpot, covering them with water and adding an onion, bay leaf, carrot, celery stick and some cloves.  I let it simmer away for a couple of hours until it transformed into a flavourful liquid gold, then strained it and let it cool before pouring into plastic containers and freezing it.

Stockpot

I’ll pull it out over the coming weeks to use as a base for risottos and marvellous soups such as borscht and tortellini in brodo.
With the meat, I’m going to make a version of that retro classic, Coronation Chicken, following a quick simple idea of British chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s.  He makes a dressing with  2 tablespoons “good spicy fruit chutney” (try  mango – in keeping with the Anglo-Indian theme), mixed with 1 tablespoon “good Madras curry powder” and equal parts Greek yoghurt and mayonnaise tossed through the cubed or shredded turkey meat.  Leave it to marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge and serve garnished with toasted almonds and chopped coriander.
For a summer lunch, scoop a spoonful or two into crisp lettuce cups.
You’ll find more good ideas for Coronation Chicken (or Turkey) on the web here.
Ham on the bone also lends itself to good flavourful stock which can be frozen and used later for pea and ham soup.  Leftover ham adds flavour to pasta sauces and is delicious diced and combined with diced onion, mushrooms, cream and freshly grated parmesan.

Eggs Benedict

If you’re not on a diet, make eggs Benedict with leftover slices of ham for breakfast; or add diced ham to quiches and frittatas.
And don’t forget sandwiches, wraps and  jaffles: always delicious with leftover turkey meat or ham.
Jacquie Tuck, who lived in South West France for many years, suggested this Cabbage Gallette, an old peasant dish from the Auvergne region.  It serves 6.

Cabbage Galette

Half a savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
200g thick cut thick cut ham
2 eggs
3 eschalots, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
A full bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
200 g flour
250ml milk

Heat oven to moderate (80 degrees C ).  Steam the cabbage in a saucepan for 3 mins. Set aside. Smear a deep pie dish with olive oil and heat in the oven.  In a bowl, mix together the ham, eggs, shallots, garlic, parsley and seasoning. Add the flour and milk and mix into a smooth dough.
Remove the hot pie dish from oven. Spread half the mixture over the base of the dish, pile on the cabbage and pack it down with your hand, then cover with the remaining dough. Bake for 35 mins until golden and firm. Good served hot or cold.

And for the leftover plum pud?  Crumble it and fold it through softened vanilla ice-cream.
Or do as the English do, and serve a wedge for breakfast, fried in butter and sprinkled with sugar.
Such a wicked way to start the year!