St Ives, Sydney - Lunch Time

The apple crumble, pictured above, provided a fitting finale to a well made home meal hosted by Jennifer, cooked with the heart, infused with experienced care and devotion and utilising so many ingredients.  Crumbles have been a British and Irish institution, especially since the end of Wolrd War 2 and can be made with other fruits like plum, kiwi fruits, coconut, rhubarb, blackberries and peaches.  An even more interesting choice is for the toppings, whether they are broken biscuits, almonds, rolled oats or breakfast cereals.  Brown sugar is usually utilised to caramelise the toppings.

I was more than happy to have the crumble without any ice cream or cream.

Prawn slices pork rib cuts, vermicelli noodles and deep fried shallots are served in a stock soup above, in the classic Fujian dish, har mee.  The amount of prawn shells that goes into making an outstanding soup must be seen to be believed. The shells are pounded, stir cooked on the wok and then refined to be infused into the main stock.  The five of us at St Ives that arvo had an engaging time participating in conversation - Cheryl was visiting from Penang, An Qi came up from her Sydney University campus and both Janie and Jennifer has returned from a few weeks in south-western Europe.

The kueh seri muka has a layer of sumptious coconut milky topping over a pandanus flavoured glutinious rice base. (as photographed above)  Jennifer's version is yummy gulping, with gentle textures that are not overbearing on your palate. Vanilla bean paste can also be utilised instead of pandanus flavours. 

I reproduce the recipe from My Kitchen.blogspot.com website (all copyrights acknowledged):

Ingredients (8" x 8" tin):

Bottom Layer
250g Glutinous Rice, soaked for 4 hours and drained
170ml Thin Coconut Milk
¼ tsp Salt
Top Layer
2  Eggs
150g Castor Sugar
120ml Pandan Water (Blend about 10 pandan leaves with 120ml water)
400ml Coconut Milk
120g All-purpose Flour
3 tbsp Tapioca Flour
¼ tsp salt

Methods:

1. Bottom Layer: Steam glutinous rice with coconut milk and salt for 30 minutes. Rest for about 10 minutes, then transfer and press steamed rice onto a bottom of a 8" square pan.
2. Top Layer: Beat eggs with sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add in pandan water, coconut milk, salt and green colouring. Mix well.
3. Sift in flours and whisk till well combined. Strain the mixture and rest for 10 minutes.
4. Pour the mixture in the pan with pressed glutinous rice (1) and steam over medium heat for 30 minutes.
5. Cool completely before serving.

Vietnamese-styled drip coffee is served in a contraption unique in shape, inspired by the French and made practical by Indo-Chinese ingenuity.  Janie arranged the delightful process as seen in the photo above, and the taste was a strong combination of a dark brew served with stirred condensed milk. In this instance, I did not have the iced version (cafe da), which is popular in the several ASEAN nations, as the climate is equatorial.  In  St Ives that Saturday, we were well in the throes of an Australian east coast winter.  I was told that the French introduced coffeee to Vietnam and that now many of their youngsters are drinking Starbucks but still have a penchant for their local flavours.   Yes, the metal drip filter (that reminds me of a miniature hat) you see above can be small in size,  but does the trick.

Dinner at St Ives, Sydney

A gathering, a birthday and a feast. It was the middle of winter in the Sydney region. The food served was eclectic, inspired by traditions from southern China to Penang to Australia. There was relaxed conversation, it was winding down after a working day. Singapore styled pepper chili crab was appetising, whilst the closer of flourless chocolate cake was topped up by brewed Campos coffee. In between, one went through laughter, thoughtful chatter, change of plates, munching of rather sweet mandarins from an Eastwood outlet, delightful smoked tea and the serving of traditional Straits Chinese braised birthday noodles (lam mee).

The mussels moray stood out as an appetiser (above image) followed by the carving of the Beijing roast duck (below), served on paper thin pancake slices, garnished with hoi sin sauce, shallot strips and cucumber bites.

Captivating red syrup flavoured jelly (below) provided a contrast to the heavier items on the menu. Uncle Jimmy also brought his home made kuay chap, a Chiuchow concoction not easily found in Australia but a hit with many southern Chinese immigrants around the world, especially in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. It essentially is a dark coloured broth that blends flavour with bite, as it contains cooked innards of pig or cattle, but treated as comfort food from the past.