I have been absconding from the Hospobaby blog. Hospobaby has just not been eating out as much. The reason: well we have made a hasty retreat from the cafe life and social buzz of Ponsonby and moved to Onehunga. Yes, Onehunga. The same place I criticized for its lack of good eating places a few blogs ago. So here we go- I would officially like to apologize, eat my words, pull the foot out of my mouth. Onehunga isn't half as bad as I made it out to be.
Last Saturday, after checking out the legendary "hard to find" second-hand bookshop on the Onehunga mall road, a friend and I decided to take Hospobaby to Lil'- e- Roma. I had seen this place doing a few grab ones, daily do's etc. In the vein of not judging a book by its cover, or discounting places that ride on the deal-a-day bandwagon, we decided to walk in with an open mind. The decor was alright, we were seated at our table promptly and a high chair was whisked out for Zoya.
Now, although I say we went with an open mind, I was a bit skeptical the minute I read the menu. Lil-e- roma's prices were high. As high as That's Amore in town which I suspected served better pizza.
So we dived in and ordered a pepperoni pizza for $17. The pizza came out within a matter of minutes.
It looked all right. It tasted all right, except for the raw peppers diced on top. Hospobaby quite enjoyed it, had a few slices by herself. If you ask me if I would go back, I would say no.
While we have been moving houses and going through a crisis in our personal lives, we have been eating in a lot. Hospobaby refuses to be fed any longer. She buries her fork, right into her bowl and makes a huge mess. I have tried to keep her away from soupy stuff. Hospobaby has taken to eating spicy food, now this should hardly come as a surprise as she is of Indian descent and chillies run in her blood. One night I made a dish called American Chopsuey. The only Chopsuey I have come across in New Zealand has been the Samoan variety. This one is more Chinese with some Indian influence.
See the recipe at the end if you wish to try it. Surprisingly as I tucked into left overs the following morning Zoya decided she would like some too. My version of Chopsuey is quite spicy with green chillies and hot chilly sauce. I was hesitant to give Hospobaby any, but she kept going at it, with occasional sips of her "babu" (bottle).
Hospobaby's grandparents have just come back into town and her Nanna has some nifty recipes that she whips up in minutes. One of my mum's secret ingredients is semolina. You can buy semolina from any supermarket baking/flour isle. Mum makes a savory version called Upma, which comes from South India. It has Hospobaby's favorite ingredient; peas. Semolina is also used to make a very traditional celebratory sweet dish, called Halwa. Both these dishes have a soft, smooth texture that make them especially palatable to little ones. If you want to try these, check out the recipes at the end.
Sunday nights have been takeaway nights in our house forever. More often than not we order Indian food. Good Butter Chicken, that isn't full of cream has been hard to find so we stick to a few favorite places. Butter chicken aside, I always order a portion of Lamb Saagwala for Hospobaby. Often Indian restaurants use food coloring in their Butter Chicken which I am not happy giving Hospobaby. Saagwala on the other hand is made out of pureed spinach. Food coloring is not used as spinach gives it a natural green color. Team spinach with lamb and you have a powerhouse of Iron on your kids plate.
Saagwala is also mild. Hospobaby is only too happy to dip her wholemeal Roti in her spinach curry and emulate us on takeaway night.
Talking of cultural foods, I have never enjoyed Sushi. However, I wanted Hospobaby to acquire a taste for it. We were out shopping this afternoon in Sylvia Park and lunch time was looming dangerously close. I saw "Smart Sushi" and decided to get Zoya a chicken Onigiri. Priced at $3 it was a quick meal for Zoya. She loved the teriyaki chicken sandwiched between 2 layers of rice. It was easy for me to feed her on the go. So we might have produced ourselves a Sushi Lover after all.
Before I say adieu, I throughly recommend people try the newly opened Tin Solider in Ponsonby. I haven't written about it, as we went there a few weeks ago on date night. However I am planning to take Hospobaby there for lunch. It was delicious, value for money and a great concept.
Until our next adventure- live to eat like Hospobaby.
American Chopsuey
½ cup Spring Onion(chopped)
¼ cup Carrot(chopped)
¼ cup Bell pepper
¼ tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Ginger(paste)
¼ tsp. Red Chili Powder
1 cup Chicken(stock)
4 tbsps. Tomato Sauce, or half n half , 2 tbsp ketchup and 2 tbsp tomato paste.
1 tbsp. Soy Sauce
½ tbsp. Chili Sauce
Salt to taste
1 tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Vinegar
1½ tbsps. Corn Flour
¼ lb. Noodles,
Serve immediately.
UPMA
Ingridients
2- 3 tbsp Semolina
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
water
salt
Diced carrots
Peas
Coriander leaves
In a pan melt the butter, and fry the onion. Add the semolina and roast it till it is a light brown color. Add the peas and carrots. Pour enough water to give it a smooth consistency. Add a dash of salt and chopped coriander leaves to serve.
HALWA
Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients:
Instead of water add 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water and keep Halwa a little thicker. Pour the Halwa on a greased plate, keep it about 1/2 inch thick. Garnish with shaved almonds or pistachio or shredded coconut, and let it cool for about a half an hour.
Last Saturday, after checking out the legendary "hard to find" second-hand bookshop on the Onehunga mall road, a friend and I decided to take Hospobaby to Lil'- e- Roma. I had seen this place doing a few grab ones, daily do's etc. In the vein of not judging a book by its cover, or discounting places that ride on the deal-a-day bandwagon, we decided to walk in with an open mind. The decor was alright, we were seated at our table promptly and a high chair was whisked out for Zoya.
Now, although I say we went with an open mind, I was a bit skeptical the minute I read the menu. Lil-e- roma's prices were high. As high as That's Amore in town which I suspected served better pizza.
So we dived in and ordered a pepperoni pizza for $17. The pizza came out within a matter of minutes.
It looked all right. It tasted all right, except for the raw peppers diced on top. Hospobaby quite enjoyed it, had a few slices by herself. If you ask me if I would go back, I would say no.
While we have been moving houses and going through a crisis in our personal lives, we have been eating in a lot. Hospobaby refuses to be fed any longer. She buries her fork, right into her bowl and makes a huge mess. I have tried to keep her away from soupy stuff. Hospobaby has taken to eating spicy food, now this should hardly come as a surprise as she is of Indian descent and chillies run in her blood. One night I made a dish called American Chopsuey. The only Chopsuey I have come across in New Zealand has been the Samoan variety. This one is more Chinese with some Indian influence.
See the recipe at the end if you wish to try it. Surprisingly as I tucked into left overs the following morning Zoya decided she would like some too. My version of Chopsuey is quite spicy with green chillies and hot chilly sauce. I was hesitant to give Hospobaby any, but she kept going at it, with occasional sips of her "babu" (bottle).
Hospobaby's grandparents have just come back into town and her Nanna has some nifty recipes that she whips up in minutes. One of my mum's secret ingredients is semolina. You can buy semolina from any supermarket baking/flour isle. Mum makes a savory version called Upma, which comes from South India. It has Hospobaby's favorite ingredient; peas. Semolina is also used to make a very traditional celebratory sweet dish, called Halwa. Both these dishes have a soft, smooth texture that make them especially palatable to little ones. If you want to try these, check out the recipes at the end.
Sunday nights have been takeaway nights in our house forever. More often than not we order Indian food. Good Butter Chicken, that isn't full of cream has been hard to find so we stick to a few favorite places. Butter chicken aside, I always order a portion of Lamb Saagwala for Hospobaby. Often Indian restaurants use food coloring in their Butter Chicken which I am not happy giving Hospobaby. Saagwala on the other hand is made out of pureed spinach. Food coloring is not used as spinach gives it a natural green color. Team spinach with lamb and you have a powerhouse of Iron on your kids plate.
Saagwala is also mild. Hospobaby is only too happy to dip her wholemeal Roti in her spinach curry and emulate us on takeaway night.
Talking of cultural foods, I have never enjoyed Sushi. However, I wanted Hospobaby to acquire a taste for it. We were out shopping this afternoon in Sylvia Park and lunch time was looming dangerously close. I saw "Smart Sushi" and decided to get Zoya a chicken Onigiri. Priced at $3 it was a quick meal for Zoya. She loved the teriyaki chicken sandwiched between 2 layers of rice. It was easy for me to feed her on the go. So we might have produced ourselves a Sushi Lover after all.
Before I say adieu, I throughly recommend people try the newly opened Tin Solider in Ponsonby. I haven't written about it, as we went there a few weeks ago on date night. However I am planning to take Hospobaby there for lunch. It was delicious, value for money and a great concept.
Until our next adventure- live to eat like Hospobaby.
American Chopsuey
Ingredients
¼ cup Chicken(boiled, shredded), I use pork or beef sometimes.½ cup Spring Onion(chopped)
¼ cup Carrot(chopped)
¼ cup Bell pepper
¼ tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Ginger(paste)
¼ tsp. Red Chili Powder
1 cup Chicken(stock)
4 tbsps. Tomato Sauce, or half n half , 2 tbsp ketchup and 2 tbsp tomato paste.
1 tbsp. Soy Sauce
½ tbsp. Chili Sauce
Salt to taste
1 tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Vinegar
1½ tbsps. Corn Flour
¼ lb. Noodles,
Cheat: Buy pre-fried noodles from your local Asian grocer.
Directions
For the chopsuey sauce :- Heat 4 tbsp. of oil in pan and add ginger paste, spring onions, carrot, bell peppers, chilli powder and salt.
- Stir fry this over high heat for a minute before adding chicken pieces. Fry another couple of minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, chilli sauce, sugar, vinegar, stock and salt to taste. Bring to a boil.
- In a seperate cup mix corn flour with cold water, mix it well and then combine with the boiling sauce.
- Keep stirring till the sauce becomes thick. Set aside.
- Boil water, add noodles and salt. Cook uncovered for couple of minutes till the noodles are soft and firm but not mushy.
- Drain and wash with cold water. Add a little bit of oil to keep the noodles from sticking.
- Heat plenty of oil in a deep frying pan to frying heat. Add drained noodles in circles.
- Remove on a kitchen towel when crisp and golden, let the oil get absorbed in towel.
Serve immediately.
UPMA
Ingridients
2- 3 tbsp Semolina
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
water
salt
Diced carrots
Peas
Coriander leaves
In a pan melt the butter, and fry the onion. Add the semolina and roast it till it is a light brown color. Add the peas and carrots. Pour enough water to give it a smooth consistency. Add a dash of salt and chopped coriander leaves to serve.
HALWA
Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients:- 1/2 cup semolina
- 1/4 cup ghee (clear butter or unsalted butter)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2cup water
- Pinch of cardamom powder
- 1 tablespoon sliced almonds for garnish
- Boil the water with sugar, and cardamom powder in a pan over low medium heat. Bring to a boil and Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan on medium heat.
- Add sooji and roast to golden brown color; stirring constantly this will take about 5 to 8 minutes. Sooji will be golden brown in color and will have a light sweet aroma.
- Add the syrup slowly, as you add the syrup to sooji water will splatter.
- Turn down the heat to medium low and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes.
- Sooji will absorb the water, as the Halwa cools so keep Halwa a little more softer then you want.
- Garnish with almonds.
- Serve hot for best taste. If you like, garnish with shaved pistachio, almonds or shredded coconut.
- For breakfast serve with aloo poori.
Instead of water add 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of water and keep Halwa a little thicker. Pour the Halwa on a greased plate, keep it about 1/2 inch thick. Garnish with shaved almonds or pistachio or shredded coconut, and let it cool for about a half an hour.
