Kebabs from Kebabs House, Rosebud

Kebabs House

Address: Shop 1/ 913 Point Nepean Rd, Rosebud

Phone: (03) 5982 1500

Yesterday we went on a road trip and stopped for kebabs in Rosebud. On the window of the Kebabs House was a big sign saying they have 'Melbourne's Best Souvlaki as mentioned in the Herald Sun.' The date of that award was January 2010. A lot must have changed in the last 16 months. Unfortunately, to explain my lamb kebab ($7.50) as disappointing is a bit of an understatement. 

• The main disappointment and a real frustration for me was the lamb. They didn't use 'real' lamb, it was processed
• There was only a tiny sprinkling of salad
• The kebab was served in what looked a lot like a hot dog bun. I think the bread was probably made on site but isn't the type of wrap you would associate with a kebab

T enjoyed his kebab so at least one of us was satisfied.

This is about one quarter of the size of the kebab

We also ordered an egg salad ($4.50) which was very fresh. In addition to the egg, there was onion and plenty of parsley.

While you wait for your food to be prepared there are plenty of new magazines to read through which was a little treat. The shop was very clean and the staff were polite.

Gorcery Shopping Online

Yesterday morning I went grocery shopping dressed in my pajamas, without having brushed my teeth and wearing no shoes. In fact, I was even sitting down the whole time! I shopped online from the comfort of my couch.
My frustration and dislike of grocery has been developing slowly over the last 12 months and I am now at the stage where I have decided to do something significant about it. I read a news paper article a few weeks ago outlining the pros and cons of online grocery shopping and had done a little research of my own before yesterday's trial.
Farmers Direct has much cheaper (free) delivery than the major supermarkets but it didn't seem like I could pick my own combination of fruit and vegies. I would have to buy a box of what they had selected for me. This didn't really suit me, plus they only sell fresh foods and I needed to buy rice and other pantry items.
From what I could recall, Woolworths offer cheaper delivery than Coles so I thought that might be the way to go. However, when I attempted to do some shopping in the fruit and vegetables section I found that didn't suit me either. Woolworths showed the price of buying items individually, for example buying 1 capsicum. It didn't show the price per kilo or the average weight for one item. This was no good I decided, I wanted to compare the price per kilo.
Coles Online was where I ended up ordering from. They showed the price per kilo of fruit and veg, the average weight of one item and the price per individual item. Perfect.
It took me a while to do my shopping, this was my first visit to the online supermarket after all. But as with any trip to a new store, I will get used to it and find my way around much faster the more I visit. Plus, my previous shopping trip is remembered so it will save me lots of time next trip because as T said, 80% of what I buy each time is probably the same.

Of course online shopping has its disadvantages, for example:

• Not picking out your own vegies that look to be the freshest ones there
• Not being able to pick the items with the longest time before the used-by date
• Not being able to compare or even read the nutritional content on the labels
• Not being able to spot the discounted items reduced for quick sale
• Having to pay a delivery fee ($11 for me this time)
• No delivery of groceries on the weekends

But there are also plenty of advantages to shopping online:

• Not having to leave home; you don't have to find a carpark, battle any crowds or even get dressed!
• Not being tempted by things you don't really need
• Being able to check in the cupboard or a recipe book instantly to see if you do or don't need to purchase something
• It will absolutely save time when I am used to the process
• You can see how much you are spending as you go

All in all, I was pretty happy with the experience and will definitely try it again a few times before making a final judgement. Now I'm just looking forward to Monday evening when I'll get all my groceries delivered. Hopefully they are gentle with the eggs!

Lemon Chicken with Pilaf, Zucchini and Carrots

I had a few lemons I wanted to use and found an interesting recipe for Lemon Chicken in a 4 Ingredients cook book. I wasn't really sure what to serve with the chicken with but finally decided on pilaf, steamed carrots and zucchini pieces. The pilaf was average, the zucchini was yummy but the chicken was the best thing on the plate.

Once it was cooked I was very impressed with the look of the chicken. I didn't use a whole lot of oil but it was still crispy and golden on the outside.

 

Lemon Chicken

2 chicken breasts cut into strips

2 lemons, juiced and zested

~1/2 cup corn flour

oil to fry

Marinate chicken in lemon juice and zest for about 2 hours. 

Remove from fridge, add corn flour and mix to form a batter.

Heat oil in frying pan. Fry chicken in batches until golden.

Place cooked chicken pieces on absorbent paper to soak up excess oil.

Serve and enjoy!

Balsamic Chicken & Eggplant Parmigiana

Thursday night's dinner was very enjoyable. I made Balsamic Chicken (recipe from one of the 4 Ingredients cook books) and Eggplant Parmigiana (adapted from Guy Grossi's Easter Feaster recipe). I served these with steamed broccoli and green beans. The eggplant dish was fantastic. I really do love the texture of eggplant and it was wonderfully tasty in this recipe.

Balsamic Chicken

2 Chicken breasts
4tbs balsamic vinegar
2tbs brown sugar 
1 garlic clove

Mix together vinegar, sugar and garlic. Place chicken breasts in marinade and refrigerate for about 2 hours. Pre heat oven to 180°C.  Roast (or grill) until cooked through and sauce has caramalised.

*The sauce didn't caramalise in my case because I covered it when it was in the oven. I have used a similar sauce over carrots and roasted them. The sauce did caramalise in that instance and it was DELICIOUS!

Eggplant Parmigiana

Olive oil 

1 large or 2 medium-sized eggplant 

1 Jar of pasta sauce 

Parmesan, Ricotta and/or Mozzarella cheese

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

Pre heat oven to 180°C

Cut the top of the eggplant/s. Slice eggplant ½cm thick lengthways.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.

Fry eggplant in batches with a sprinkling of salt for 2-3 minutes on both sides or until golden brown, adding more oil when required. Place on absorbent paper and leave to soak up excess oil.

In a baking dish, line the bottom of the dish with some pasta sauce, then eggplant, cheese and a sprinkling of herbs.

Repeat with 1 or 2 more layers. Top with cheese.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Toasted Chicken Rolls for Dinner, Pasta for Lunch

I roasted a chicken yesterday and had some near stale rolls that I didn't want to waste so I decided to make toasted sandwiches (rolls in this case) for dinner. There was hardly any effort involved but they tasted great. Inside the rolls was avocado, chicken, cheese, capsicum, spring onion, tomato, rocket and baby spinach leaves with a squirt of tomato sauce and a little bit of butter.

They tasted nicer than they appear in this photo.

While I was preparing dinner I put some pasta on to boil. I made pasta for T's lunch tomorrow because there was extra chicken, spring onion and spinach leaves from dinner. I threw them together with some pasta sauce to create his lunch. It was easier than making a sandwich!

I added 2 chicken wings as a bonus treat.

Return visit to Main Street, Mordialloc

We returned to Main Street today for brunch. T ordered the Vegie Patch ($16.50) again but forgot to ask for scrambled eggs in place of the poached ones.
I went for something a little more indulgent than last visit, I ordered Speared Salmon ($16.50). It consisted of two free range poached eggs on rye toast with smoked salmon, asparagus spears, rocket, hazelnut dukkah & lemon.

It was a very enjoyable brunch. Apart from T's initial disappointment in himself for not ordering scrambled eggs, we both had a great time and a tasty start to the day.

Punjab Sweets

Punjab Sweets

Address: 2b Mason St, DandenongPhone: (03) 9792 1694 
Punjab Sweets is a modestly decked out Indian sweet shop in Dandenong. While the place is named after it's sweet treats, it is the Indian curries that keeps us coming back for more. This is probably where I got my first taste of Indian food many years ago.
They offer take-away or you can eat in at the humble dining section. While the presentation of the eating area leaves a lot to be desired, one must not forget they are there to enjoy the delicious, cheaply priced food, not critique the interior.

It is always fun to stand at the counter, look up at the large yellow menu and make the decision about which mouth watering dish to try that day.

Today we ordered 2 Vegetarian Samosas. At $1.50 each they are an amazing bargain! The samosas were totally delicious, fried to perfection and full of flavour. The second picture below shows all the tasty chunks of potatoes and peas.

We ordered two dishes, one of which was Chicken Curry ($8.50). This was simple but tasty. Unlike the similar flavoured Chicken Masala, this has no chunky pieces of onion or capsicum, it is just chicken and gravy. T loved it.

Palak Paneer ($7) was the vegetarian choice. We asked for extra paneer and there was plenty added. This was tasty too, although T mentioned that the colour wasn't quite right. He said it should be a deeper green colour and have a bit more flavour but I was happy with it.

We ordered 4 Naans ($1 each) to eat with the curries. They were cooked beautifully, spread with a little butter and were served nice and warm.

We have come to Punjab Sweets many times and always leave shaking our heads (happily) at the low price we payed for such a great meal. Today was just the same as usual; we left feeling full, satisfied and with plenty of change in our pockets.