Christmas A La Malaysia

Malaysian Trade Commission (MATRADE) celebrated Hawker Melbourne yesterday, a Malaysian hawker style market incorporating Christmas and celebrating Malaysian food, flavours, spices and culture. 

Hosted by Malaysian chef Jackie M, the event showcased the full, bold and authentic flavours of Malaysia and saw classic Australian Christmas dishes transformed with a Malaysian twist. During two demonstrations, Jackie M showed guests how to incorporate Malaysian flavours and spices into Christmas dishes and every day meals. 

With delicious Malaysian food available, guests were taken on a journey through Malaysia, tasting bold, authentic flavours and learning  how the flavours and spices of Malaysia tie in Western dishes. 

Malaysian cuisine offers a rich melting pot of flavours, ranking amongst the most delicious and tastiest in Asia. With a palate underpinned by a wide diversity of influences including Chinese, Indian and Portuguese, not to mention the many spices characteristic of South East Asian food, Malaysian cuisine is rightly emerging as a favourite of food-lovers everywhere. 

Here are our top five flavours of Malaysia that work perfectly to up the ante on your traditional Christmas feast… 

Bring life to your seafood. 

We all know that seafood is a staple addition at most Australian homes during the festive season. This year, wow your guests with a decadent prawn Laksa. Laksa is one of Malaysia’s best known and most popular dishes, with its rich coconut curry base. The veritable minestrone of South Asia, Laksas can feature anything from tofu puffs, fish shrimps through to chicken pieces and of course, noodles and lots of delicious Asian vegetables. It’s typically served with a generous spoonful of chilli paste or sambal, and garnished with coriander, or kaffir lime leaf. Laksa is the perfect way to start your Christmas meal with a bang and is the ultimate go-to dish that provides fresh, spicy flavours. 

‘Ham’ up your glazed ham. 

Tired of the same old glazing on your Christmas ham? Why not incorporate delicious Malaysian flavours and give your guests something to talk about. For a unique taste that is sure to impress, add palm sugar and tamarind peel or a Malaysian curry paste for a chilli taste that will be sure to fire up your Christmas lunch. Serve slices of the ham with sweet pineapple pieces and roti to tone down and balance out the chilli factor. 

Tantalise with your Turkey. 

Roast turkey is the veritable star of any Christmas banquet. This year, the proof is in the stuffing, and we encourage you to utilise the vast flavours of Malaysian cuisine when stuffing and basting your bird. Spice up your stuffing with a wide range of spices like cardamom, cloves, turmeric and chilli, or coat your bird in some nyonya curry paste or chilli sambal that are sure to make your turkey flavoursome and exciting this festive season. 

Turn it up a couple of notches in the trifle stakes. 

You can’t go past a classic Aussie dessert at Christmas. A summer trifle is a light sweet treat that is guaranteed to end your festive banquet on a high. Take your guests on a culinary journey, and give it an exotic makeover this year by adding in some traditional Malaysian flavours including some mango, coconut cream and pandan for a truly refreshing indulgence. 

To help you discover the delicious Malaysian products available and to find a store near you, visit www.matrade.gov.my

A Porky Christmas: Murray Valley Pork Rolled Loin

With Christmas only a month and a bit away, we thought we would share one of our Christmas dinner plans with you.

We have a tradition in our household of celebrating Christmas with decadent comfort food, all washed down with plenty of wine.

This year, we have a “crackling” pork recipe that is sure to impress. 

Roasted Pork Loin with perfect crackling

Serves 6

Ingredients

3.06 kg Murray Valley Pork Rolled Loin, rind on

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons sea salt

boiling water

Method

1. Pour boiling hot water all over the pork.
2. Dry the pork with paper towels.
3. Rub and massage liberal amounts of olive oil into the skin.
4. Sprinkle salt all over the surface of the skin.
5. Place the pork on a roasting trivet.
6. Roast the pork at a temperature of 220 degrees celcius for the first hour.
7. After an hour, reduce the temperature to 185 degrees celcius and continue cooking until the pork is ready (e.g. for a further 30 minutes).
8. Transfer the meat to a warm plate. 
9. Remove the strings from the pork.
10. Serve!

The pork came out of the oven looking absolutely perfect. Fragrant, sweet and succulent, this roast pork was winter comfort food at its best. Golden brown, blistered and crunchy, the pork crackling had us fighting for the last piece.

Get your hands on some Murray Valley Pork -> Find your nearest stockist here!

Or if you would like to find other porky recipe ideas, check out our posts about Murray Valley Pork's Rindless Scotch here or Murray Valley Pork's Cranberry & Almond Loin Roast here.

Gastrology bloggers tried the Rolled Pork Loin courtesy of MVP.

Koko Black Christmas Collection 2014

Gastrology bloggers received the products courtesy of Koko Black.

Chocolate has the wonderful quality of being able to make great times even better. At Christmas time especially, chocolate deliciously accentuates shared moments spent celebrating with family and friends.

Koko Black's 2014 Christmas Collection celebrates the magical time that is Christmas, with seasonally themed signature favourites, artisan gift boxes, hand-painted snowmen and delightful stocking fillers. 

We were recently at Koko Black's Collins Street store where we picked up a few of their most popular Christmas treats this year.

Signature keepsake (4 pce) $14

The limited edition Signature Keepsakes offer a selection of fresh hand designed chocolate creations and include seasonal exclusives such as the hazelnut praline snowman, raspberry ganache and plum pudding ganache – in both milk and dark couverture chocolate.

Apart from being filled with amazing chocolates, the Signature Keepsake boxes make lovely collectable pieces as they feature one off’s by well known artists. This Christmas' Signature Keepsake features artwork from renowned Australian artist Adam Nickel. 

Favourites Gift Box - petite (150g) -  Roasted Almonds and Macadamias in Milk Chocolate $16.50

Beautifully crafted, this Favourites Gift Box is designed to make gift giving simple and gift receiving joyous. 

Favourites selection hamper $60

Our favourites selection comprised a selection of decadent signature products in milk and dark chocolate.

The hamper features beautifully roasted almonds in milk chocolate, vanilla pistachio nougat in dark chocolate, macadamia, cranberry & cherry in milk chocolate, salted cashew nut brittle inclusion in dark chocolate and festive stars in solid milk chocolate. This pack is one that will surprise and spoil the special people in your life.

Gift box (16 pce) $36.50

Another option if you know exactly what your loved ones (or you) want, is to create your own personalised gift box by hand selecting favourites from Koko Black's coveted signature chocolate collection. 

Otherwise, you can leave the choice in the hands of the experts with the Chocolatier’s gift box selection.

The festive season is a truly special time, where time slows down and our hopes and dreams for the following year shine brightly. And what better way to celebrate than by giving the gift of Koko Black to those you truly care about... including yourself.

Collins Street Store details

Location: 52 Collins Street, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9663 5567
Link: http://www.kokoblack.com/

Winter Dinner - Murray Valley Pork Half Netted Shoulder

Gastrology bloggers tried the half netted shoulder courtesy of Murray Valley Pork.

Winter is the perfect time for decadent comfort food. With winter well and truly here, we thought we would share one of our favourite winter warming dinner recipes with you.

Roasted Half Netted Shoulder
Serves 6

Ingredients

2.04 kg Murray Valley Pork Half Netted Shoulder
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
boiling water

Method

1. Pour boiling hot water all over the pork.
2. Dry the pork with paper towels.
3. Rub and massage liberal amounts of olive oil into the skin.
4. Sprinkle salt all over the surface of the skin.
5. Place the pork on a roasting trivet.
6. Roast the pork at a temperature of 220 degrees celcius for the first hour.
7. After an hour, reduce the temperature to 185 degrees celcius and continue cooking until the pork is ready (e.g. for a further 30 minutes).
8. Transfer the meat to a warm plate. 
9. Remove the strings from the pork.
10. Serve!

The pork came out of the oven looking absolutely perfect. Fragrant, sweet and succulent, this roast pork was winter comfort food at its best. Golden brown, blistered and crunchy, the pork crackling had us fighting for the last piece.

Get your hands on some Murray Valley Pork -> Find your nearest stockist here!

Or if you would like to find other porky recipe ideas, check out our posts about Murray Valley Pork's Rindless Scotch here; Murray Valley Pork's Cranberry & Almond Loin Roast here; or Murray Valley Pork Rolled Loin here.

Mr Earl Tea

Introducing Mr Earl… a self-professed tea addict who’ll go as far to say that tea’s not just a drink, it’s a religion. 

Mr Earl is a tea subscription which provides a service where Aussie tea lovers can sample, expand their knowledge of and conveniently purchase premium tea from Australia and New Zealand’s finest tea brands.

There are three different subscriptions options: one, three or six months ($20, $45 or $78). As a subscriber, you will sample three different varieties of specialty teas which are delivered to your door each month. 

Each box contains 50 grams of tea and an information card which explains what you’re drinking, its origin and the precise brewing instructions for the perfect cup. 

After sampling the teas you can hop online to rate and review the teas you’ve tried and purchase your favourites in full size. The website also provides some interesting reads, interviews with tea experts, a peek in the celebrity tea cupboards, designer tea ware finds and snaps of café fashion. 

Gastrology blogger received a sample subscription courtesy of Mr Earl.

Harry's Ice Cream Factory Tour

Award-winning Australian ice cream maker Harry’s Ice Cream opened its factory doors for an exclusive experience where guests got up-close and personal with the artisan ice cream makers and were also given the opportunity to create their very own bespoke ice cream flavour to take home.

The Factory tour

Run by brothers Lawrence and David Harris, and ice cream expert Tony Grech, Harry & Larry's has been crafting award-winning artisan ice cream for the Australian retail and gourmet market since 1994, culminating in the launch of their new business; Harry's Ice Cream in 2012. 

The factory tour showed us how far the Harris family's frozen dessert operation had come since its inception back in 1994. Back then, the ice cream was made in small batches of 5 litres at a time, all mixed by hand and sold from a retail store. 

Tony Grech showing us how it's done!

Today, Harry's Ice Cream uses the latest technology in ice cream production and highest quality ingredients to create its award-winning frozen delights. 

With an expertise in developing complex dessert ideas into commercial flavours, Harry's understands that new product development is a continuous activity, with its production team, including specialist Product Developer, undertaking annual overseas travel to examine trends first hand. 

Harry's Ice Cream sources all of its cream, milk and sugar from local suppliers, as well as the majority of its specialty ingredients, including syrups and ripples where available.

Everyone's favourite part of the tour was finally here - the tasting

Drawing inspiration from classic Australian desserts, Harry's Ice Cream offers a range of distinctive and iconic flavours: Pavlova; Sticky Date Pudding; and Raspberry Cheesecake.

Sticky Date Pudding

The delectable Sticky Date Pudding was our favourite Harry's Ice Cream flavour. The Sticky Date Pudding is deep in flavour complete with toffee ripples and fudge pieces, it was incredibly indulgent.

Raspberry Cheesecake

The Raspberry Cheesecake flavour possessed a light lemon tanginess and has buttery chunks of biscuit pieces sprinkled throughout. It is a well-balanced and beautiful ice cream.

Pavlova

We also tasted old-timer, Harry’s Pavlova which is a delicious vanilla ice cream with a tart passionfruit ripple and crushed meringue pieces. The texture of this ice cream is wonderfully smooth.

Flavour requests unveiled

The following were the 6 flavour requests: 

• Pistachio, Honey & Rose water by Food Made With Love;
• White Chocolate, Mars Bars, Hazelnut & Peanut Butter by Never Too Sweet;
• Caramel Chocolate & Biscuit Bits by Melbourne Girl;
• Coconut Cheesecake with Biscuit Bits by Gastrology;
• Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese by My Poppet's Window; and
• White Chocolate & Berries by Six Inch Heel.

We were provided with some hints and tips about how ice cream is judged by international ice cream judges and the competition for the best flavour request was on. 

Points were given based on flavour & aroma; texture & body; and presentation.

And the well-deserving winner was... 

 Congratulations Food Made With Love on that delicious 'Pistachio, Honey & Rose water' ice cream! 

It was a wonderful time had by all. Thanks to Harry's we now have tubs of Sticky Date Pudding, Pavlova and Raspberry Cheesecake ice cream on top of our very own Coconut Cheesecake ice cream as a dessert option at our Christmas table!

Get your hands on some Harry's Ice Cream  - All three flavours are available at Woolworths and selected IGA stores throughout Australia.

A Porky Christmas: Murray Valley Pork Rindless Scotch

After the success of cooking up Murray Valley Pork’s Cranberry & Almond Loin Roast, we decided to be a little more adventurous. 

This time, we used Murray Valley Pork’s Rindless Scotch (also known as collar butt) which is rindless and boneless. 

We had just received some good news and we were in the mood to celebrate!

To start, we made a few home-made dips and a loaf of rosemary bread.

The pièce de résistance was our slow cooked Murray Valley Pork Rindless Scotch which we served on a bed of quinoa and spinach. We tweaked a Gordon Ramsay Pork Belly recipe (which you can find here) and the results were absolutely stunning!

Here is the recipe for it:

Slow-cooked Pork with fennel recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients

2.4 kg Murray Valley Pork Collar Butt, rindless and boneless 

Black pepper

3 baby fennel bulbs, trimmed and roughly sliced

4 fresh bay leaves

3 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed

1 tsp cardamom pods, bashed

4 star anise

1 tbsp fennel seeds

Olive oil

500ml white wine

1l chicken stock (depending on the size of your pan/slowcooker)

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

Method

1. Put the fennel, bay leaves, garlic, cardamom, star anise and half the fennel seeds into a hot roasting tray on the hob with a little oil and heat for about 2 minutes until aromatic. Push to the side of the tray, then add the pork and cook for at least 5 minutes until turning golden brown. Turn the pork over, season the skin again with pepper and sprinkle with the remaining fennel seeds
2. Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits from the bottom. Bring to the boil, then pour in enough stock to cover the pork and allow to boil again.
3. Transfer the contents of the tray into a slowcooker  and cook on “low” for 7 hours.
4. Transfer the meat to a warm plate and set aside to rest. 
5. Reduce some of the liquid contents from the slowcooker to make a sauce and add the mustard. Mix in with a whisk, then taste and adjust the flavours as necessary. Strain and pour the sauce into a jug. 
6. Serve the rested pork with the sauce alongside.

The pork was sensational. We loved the fact that is was so lean, fresh and healthy. 

Fragrant, sweet and succulent, this pork was absolutely delicious. The meat was incredibly tender and just melted in our mouths. The accompanying sauce had a lovely depth of flavour. It was perfect for celebrating a special occasion. 

Get your hands on some Murray Valley Pork -> Find your nearest stockist here!

Gastrology bloggers tried the Rindless Scotch courtesy of MVP.

Christmas @ LuxBite

Gastrology bloggers attended LuxBite's Christmas party receently where guests indulged in LuxBite's fancy fusion treats that were as beautiful as they were delectable.

To fulfil those sweet temptations, LuxBite has a cake to suit every palate.

Lolly Bag Cake

These sweet temptations include extraordinarily famous “Lolly Bag Cake” as seen on Master Chef Australia, designed by LuxBiteʼs own Bernard Chu. 

The Lolly Bag Cake has seven layers of succulent flavours, including banana lolly jaconde, freckles crunch, mandarin jaffa ganache, musk mallow, more banana lolly jaconde, spearmint leaf buttercream and is topped with a redskins glaze. The eminent Lolly Bag Cake is very gratifying. 

With Christmas just around the corner, LuxBite founders Bernard Chu and Yen Yee have a few new treats in store (including the Coloured Chocolate Box and LuxBite's Wondersnack) - even more reasons to get excited about the festive season. 

Coloured chocolate box

These beautiful selection of handcrafted chocolates are new to LuxBiteʼs menu and showcase Asian inspired flavours. The box includes a variety of flavours including tropical Passion fruit and Kaffir lime, sweet and smooth Mandarin Jaffa, complimentary Green Tea and pistachio, and a deliciously on trend Salted caramel. 

With the exception of the green tea and pistachio flavours, the new chocolate delights are nut free (perfect for those with nut allergies) and have been created using the same recipe as LuxBiteʼs macaron filling. 

LuxBite’s Wondersnack

LuxBite has created a new range of snack with their new collaborator, Wondersnack.

These bite sized morsels are very enjoyable. Featuring snow frosted almonds and cashews, pineapple pate de fruit, candied ginger, mixed peel and strawberry marshmallows, these little packs of summer are sure to be a new LuxBite favourite.

All LuxBiteʼs desserts are homemade, using the best ingredients that Bernard and Yen can get their hands on.

Love LuxBite? Read about Tea for 2 @ LuxBite here.