Food @ Melbourne

Apart from my rambling about IndoMie Mi Goreng recipe, I have never blogged much about food. I am not too much of a food photographer, but I do appreciate the beauty in the food brought out by good food photographers like Jian Wey. Here go a few random food pictures in the past few months:

Smoked salmon at Hanging Rock Cafe, Macedonian Range. Nice food at an affordable price.


A cake we bought from Brunetti for Freda and Thow Kong's birthday.


Ying Thai 2, one of the most famous Thai Food restaurants on Lygon Street.


Home-cooked brocolli.


Roasted chestnut on Swanston Street.


The Coffee Club - taken a moment before I spilled the whole glass.


Lemon chicken rice in China Bar.


Rice Bar - Not only rice (yes that's the full name of the restaurant).

My Mi Goreng Recipe

I have a little recipe for Mi Goreng, and no, I am not talking about fried noodle in Malay Language. I am talking about the internationally acclaimed instant noodle by IndoMie® Pt Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk, Jakarta 14430, Indonesia.

Yup this IndoMie Mi Goreng.

Well you might think, just about every single Tom or Dick in this world knows how to cook IndoMie. Just boil some water, put the noodle in, wait a few minutes until it's cooked, drain the noodles, mix in the MSG-rich sachets, and an instant delicacy awaits.

BUT.

While I followed the instruction throughout the years to the last fine print, I have always felt that the noodle is a bit too stretchy to my liking. Some "elastic tendon" kind of feel. And the MSGs never felt thick enough, not salty and sweet enough. I know this sounds so unhealthy, but really, who can resist Indomie once they try their first serve in their lives? :P

So last year, when I had Indomie one day, what happened was I sort of put together a better tasting version of Indomie. It is springy but not stretchy, and the flavouring simply tasted superb to me. Thick, sweet and salty. Or put shortly, there was simply nothing more you could ask for in a pack of instant noodle. I have been cooking IndoMie this way since.

And today, I am going to share my favourite recipe:

1. Cook noodles (obviously)
   
2. Without any delay, proceed to prepare all the flavouring sachets (except the fried onion) in the bowl. The plastic sachets must be cut using scissors instead of tearing by hand. This is essential for the timing and to prevent dirtying your clothes.
   
3. Proceed immediately to drain the noodle thoroughly with a kitchen sieve. Do the first two seconds of sieving under running cold water.
   
4. Mix the noodle thoroughly with the flavouring in the bowl.
   
5. Sprinkle the fried onion on top.
   
6. Devour the fantastic Mi Goreng!

It seems that the time spent by the noodle in the boiling water is essential to the success of getting springy, half-tender noodle. Your mileage may vary, and so is your tastebud. So find what's best for you, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I have not been eating IndoMie as much as I used to. I don't think I have even eaten one box yet this year; while in the first year I used to have enough to be used as lecture note containers. Please consume IndoMie moderately and responsibly! :D

p/s: In fact in the talk page of the Indomie Wikipedia article, there are even some creative cooking methods involving some other additional flavours and ingredients. :P Indomie fans rejoice!

Safeway Chicken Discount

Safeway supermarket's large roasted chicken. Usually sold at price of 10 - 11 dollars, but after 10.45pm they sell it at half price. Cheap, nice, delicious. In Hokkien we call it "pang gi kot tua teh" (cheap but big) :) Arguably the best thing in Safeway.