Food Blooging 100 VLOG: Episode 1

The Food Blogging 100 team is excited to present Episode 1 of the Food Blogging 100 VLOG.

In today's episode our aim is to allow our followers to get more acquainted with the team as Con, Elizabeth and Farbod each introduce you to one of their favourite recipes.

Images Used:

“Prosciutto, Provolone, Mushroom Pizza – Cattivo”

Photo taken by Flickr user: Alpha

https://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/

Creative Commons 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Background Music:

Corporate background music -  motivational soundtrack

Royalty Free Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pupw13wG20A

Foodblogging 100 can also be found on YouTube at the following link:

https://youtu.be/_ocBS7HIA-A

Mooncakes

Mooncakes are a Chinese bakery product that's traditionally eaten during the Mod-Autumn Festival. The festival is a lunar celebration where mooncakes are given are gifts and offerings to friends and family. This was based on the legend of Chang E where it was told that the Chinese Emperors would give sacrifices and offerings to the Moon Goddess of Immortality in the Autumn, since other seasons where worshiped to other gods.

So what is the mooncake made out of? Well there's the traditional filling and the more modern fillings.

Traditional:

Filling:

• lotus seed paste (translucent yellow in colour)
• sweet bean paste
• jujube paste (ripe fruits, making its dark and red in colour)
• five kernel (5 types of crushed nuts and seeds)
• egg (1 or 2 per cake)

Crusts:

• chewy (reddish-brown with green gloss)
• flaky
• tender

Modern:

Filling:

• cream cheese
• tiramisu
• pandan
• green tea
• durian
• ice cream

Crust:

• jelly
• glutinous rice (snowskin mooncake shown above)

Hope you enjoy this read, if it's nearing Mid-Autumn festival buy a mooncake gift box and give it to a friend or family member regardless of whether they're Chinese or not.

Xie Xie!

Images taken from:

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Info taken from: here

Follow in Twitter: @FoodBlog100

Blog Post by: Elizabeth Tran

Spanakopita - Savoury Greek Pastry

Spanakopita or spinach pie, is a Greek savoury pastry. It is in the burek family of pastries with a filling of chopped spinach, feta cheese, onions, egg and seasoning. The filling is wrapped or layered in phyllo pastry with butter or olive oil, either in a large pan from which individual servings are cut. Its golden pastry and crunchy crust make it a very commonly eaten snack in Greece. An excellent appetizer and great complement to various foods.

A recipe to Spanakopita can be found using the following link:

http://souvlakiforthesoul.com/2015/01/making-spanakopita-with-mum

Bubble Tea

So, you've probably tried bubble tea before at popular stores like Easy Way, Cha Time, Happy Cup, Gong Cha and so on, but where does it originate it from? Asia? Yes, but specifically it's from Taiwan.

In the early 80s, tea stands were set up to sell tea to school students. It become very popular when one owner decided to add flavourings to the tea and shaking it, creating bubbles, thus the 'Bubble Tea'. The now popular 'Boba Drink' comes after by Liu Han-Chien from Taiwan by adding the chewy Tapioca pearls that are generally dark in colour or white or transparent.

Here's a video below for more info on the origins and how the drink is made:

There are various flavours, textures, colours etc in these drinks today, as you can see below. 

You can also now add in various jellies or substitute the tapioca for jelly (which is what I personally do).

Now, enjoy the Boba Life!

Images taken from:

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Info taken from: here

Follow on Twitter: @FoodBlog100

Blog Post by: Elizabeth Tran

Korean Kimchi

Korean Kimchi!

It's a traditional fermented spicy side dish, made out of various vegatables and seaonings such as chilli peppers, salt and so on, that has now become a national dish. It's made in various seasons to take advantage of the hot and cold conditions of the weather before refrigeration.

The process of making kimchi can also be very family oriented, so family members get together on a paricular day to make a mass amount of it that'll be distributed among family members to last for a long time.

Here's a great video from Eat Your Kimchi, on the process of making it with family and friends:

Various vegetables are used to make kimchi such as commonly nappa cabbage, young radish and daikon. The images below display a greater variety for you to see.

These kimchi side dishes can be used to make various other dishes such as Korean Kimchi fried rice and stews/soups etc.

Hope that was enough to give you a good idea on the background of Kimchi!

Kamsahamnida! :D

Images taken from:

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Info taken from: here

Follow on Twitter: @FoodBlog100

Blog Post by: Elizabeth Tran

Yum Cha/Dim Sum: A Guide for the First Time Eaters!

Yum Cha is Chinese (Cantonese/Hong Kong) morning or early afternoon tea that involves drinking tea and eating various small dishes that are steamed, fried or baked. How it is served are in bamboo steam baskets or plates, hot or cold (depending on what the dish is) from trolleys.Similarly, Dim Sum is also served during the same time which are collections of small foods that replace breakfast, lunch or tea.

So have you ever tried to go to a Yum Cha restaurant, but then become so overwhelmed with the amount of people, the trolleys and the trolley ladies and the amount of variety on those trolleys, invisible prices? Well fear no more! Here's a very simple guide to how things work.

Step 1:

If you're driving friends or family out to Yum Cha, make sure parking time is long enough (waiting in line can take a while to get a table, especially during weekends since it's generally crowded).

Step 2:

Make sure to let the waiters know how many seats you want for a table (you don't want to get a 2 seat table for 8 people).

Step 3:

You can skip this step and go to the next, or ask for a menu to see what types of dishes you want to try and their prices. The titles of the dishes usually indicate what the dish is made out of.

Step 4:

Wait for a someone with a trolley to come by or put your hand up and wave them over to see what's in their trolley. Pick what you want and the trolley person will put a stamp or write on your bill (white rectangular piece of paper) of what you ordered.

Step 5:

If you want to dip the food in hot sauce/soy sauce/soy sauce with chillies in it/mayonnaise, ask a waiter for it and they will bring it to you (usually it's at no extra charge, but do ask if they do charge just in case)

Step 6:

You'll notice there will be a tea pot with small cups beside. This is the tea that's served with the food, you can drink this anytime during your experience. Waiters will occasionally come by and check the tea and refill it if the tea's running out (once again usually free, but do ask if there's a charge)

Step 7:

Eating is done with chopsticks and a small bowl, but you're certainly not limited to using the utensils, so ask for a spoon and fork.

Step 8:

Once you're done with eating and ready to pay, you can either ask for a waiter and give them the white paper bill (refer to step 4), or you can go up to the reception of the restaurant and pay there

Images taken from:

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Info taken from: here

Follow on Twitter: @FoodBlog100

Blog post by: Elizabeth Tran.

うどん: Japanese Udon

This week, myself and a fellow friend had some delicious Japanese Udon!

So what exactly is Udon? It's actually just the Japanese thick noodles that's made out of wheat flour.

The cuisine itself has the noodles served in a soup broth with toppings. It can be served hot or chilled.

Soup:

• dashi (soy sauce)
• mirin
• seaweed

Toppings:

• scallions
• shallots
• tempura (fried prawn fritter)
• tofu
• fish cake
• 1/2 egg

There are various types of Udon cuisines too as you can see below.

Origins:

There are various stories on the origins of Udon, which most claim to be from China. Here are just a few below:

1. Edo Period -Enni (Rinzai Monk) introduced the flour milling technology to Japan, leading to making Udon in this period
2. Nana Period -Japanese envoy brought back various confections from China's Tang Dynasty
3. Helan Period -Buddhist priest Kukai brought to Japan from studying in China during the 9th Century

If you haven't tried Udon, I highly suggest you do! Don't forget to say 'Itadakimasu!' before you eat!

Sayonara for now! :D

Second image taken from: here
Info taken from: here
Follow on Twitter: @FoodBlog100

Blog post by: Elizabeth Tran.

Ghormeh Sabzi: Persian stew

Ghormeh sabzi is a traditionally Persian dinner which has deep historical roots going back 500-1000 years. It is essentially a slow cooked stew which can take upto 8 hours to cook. The meal consists of various elements including red kidney beans, sauteed greens, tumeric and lamb.

Two various additions to this dish can include: limo omani (dried lemons) and shamballieh (dried fenugreek leaves). It is also important to note depending on which region you are from Iran, their is a variation that can be made to the dish to acclimate to the weather and produce in season.

For an indepth recpie of the dish, head to:
www.food.com/recipe/ghormeh-sabzi-persian-green-stew-313055

Baklava: Classic Greek Phyllo Pastry Dessert

Baklava is the dish most people think Greek dessert. Baklava is a perennial favorite, a classic Greek pastry made with flaky phyllo dough that is layered with a cinnamon-spiced nut filling, and bathed in sweet syrup. It's crunchy and sweet and very decadent. Recipes are known to be passed down from generation to generation in different families, with slight variations in some ingredients used. 

Be sure to check out one of the best Baklava recipes around here:

http://greekfood.about.com/od/phyllopastriesbaklava/r/Baklava-Classic-Phyllo-Pastry-With-Walnuts-And-Almonds.htm

Phở: Vietnamese Noodle Soup

Pho originates from Northern Vietnam in the city of Hanoi. It consists of a soup broth, bánh phở (rice noodles), meat and herbs, that are mixed with chili sauce, hoisin sauce and lemon.

It's a popular street food in Vietnam that's also served in restaurants. Despite its popularity it is eaten at different times of the day depending on the region you're when in Vietnam. For example, Southern Vietnamese consume either consume it between breakfast and lunch only. Whereas, Northern Vietnamese consume it at anytime. This was the case for me when I was travelling in Vietnam, so make sure to probably not go later than 1pm to eat Pho in South Vietnam.

Also, it is now popularised globally and there can be a slight variation between countries. For instance, in the USA the rice noodle isn't linguine-shaped; it's quite thin in comparison to Vietnam where it's linguine-shaped (which is the case here in Australia).                       

There are also different Pho recipes in chicken and vegetarian, which taste just as good as the popular beef Pho.

So go ahead and give it a try if you haven't already or if you have you'll probably become a Pho King by now. It should be great to enjoy especially in these rainy weather conditions that's been going on for days here in Sydney.

Pho Recipe
Beef Noodle Soup (Pho) Recipe

Info taken from here

Follow on Twitter: @FoodBlog100

Blog post by Elizabeth Tran.