Delhi Streets

Delhi Streets – Melbourne

Delhi Streets have captured the culture and flavours of Indian street food and created a little space where you can have a brief escape to the streets of India right here in Melbourne. Winners of The Age Good Food 2015 cheap eats award, Delhi streets offer an amazing menu at affordable prices. The family business brings authentic Indian dishes to the table that are full of flavour and packed with awesomeness. You could say it’s Delhicious!

Delhi Streets – Venue

It’s a cute little space in ‘the archway’ that houses lots of delciousness. They have posters stuck up on the roughly painted walls and street signs to give you that street feel. There was lots of colour, which created the fun, lighthearted and casual atmosphere.

Delhi Streets – Pani puri

We got the party started with Pani puri shots. They were these crispy lentil crackers filled with potatoes, chickpeas, onions, tamarind and chutney. You pour the savoury spice water into the crackers and fill the shells half full and then you pick it up and eat it in one mouthful. It’s a fun starter and they are absolutely delish. It’s crispy, soft, sweet, sour, yoghurty and spicy. Amazing. It was a great starter.

Delhi Streets – Bhel puri

Next we had the Bhel puri which is a puffed rice indian salad. It had a variety of puffed, onion, tomatoes, potatoes, coriander and tamarind chutney. It was like a meal version of the Indian snack mix. There were a few crackers to put the mixture on. The salad had lots of spices and different textures, chickpeas, crunchy pieces, soft potato, fresh tomato. It was nice.

Delhi Streets – Aloo tikki

I love how the menu incorporates favourite dishes from the family. The Aloo tikki is Grandma Bibi’s potato cakes –which where like big croquettes of smooth potato and green peas. It had a nice battered crunch on the outside and was smooth and tasty in the middle. It was topped with mint yoghurt which added a freshness.

Delhi Streets – Mango lassi

Did i mention we had mango lassi? Sweet, creamy, yoghurty. Love.

Delhi Streets – Dosa filled w spiced potato

The masala dosa was like a giant Indian crepe. Yum! The texture of the dosa was crisp on the outer and soft and crepe like in the middle but was super thin. It was filled with spicy potato and had coconut chutney and sambar (lentil based vegetable soup) to accompany.

Delhi Streets – Chicken biryani

The chicken biryani had lots o flavour and had a nice balance to it. Biryani is a classic Indian rice dish. And this version was packed with flavour. It had beautiful aromatic herb and spices, it was sweet, spicy and delicious. It had pieces of chicken throughout that intensified all of those beautiful flavours.

Delhi Streets – Spiced chickpeas w fried bread

The chana bhatura was spiced chickpeas with fried roti. Omg the fried roti bread. As if roti wasn’t yum enough they had to go and deep fry it. And im glad they did. It looked like a partially deflated beach ball of fried delciousness. It was crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle and somehow was still super airy and light. It was amazing. Love to the fried roti. And it came with a spicy sour chickpea dish, vegetables with chilli pickle and yoghurt. Delish.

Delhi Streets – Thali – platter of curries

The Thali was amazing. It was a platter with a selection of curries, rice, naan, pappadums, raita and salad. The curries were incredible. They were not too hot but full of flavour. We had the butter chicken, beef vindaloo, eggplant masala and dal makhani, which was a spicy and a bit creamy lentil curry. They were all incredibly tasty and mouthwateringly delicious. Thali is a classic Indian dish and it really hits the spot. The curries all had very different flavours and techniques and it was great to try a little bit of each. And then you’ve got the rice and the naan and the yogurt and the fresh salad then you crunch into the papadums. It’s a satisfying meal.

Delhi Streets – Nutella naan

Then onto the desserts. Nutella naan. OMG. The naan is quality naan, soft, fluffy, chewy delicious and then it’s smothered in nutella. It was incredible and my kind of dessert. Simple and wonderful. Love love love.

Delhi Streets – M&M naan

They also had an M&M version which had little melted M&M minis through it. Yumness.

Delhi Streets – Carrot halwa

The carrot halwa was interesting it was a sweet carrot pudding. It’s grated carrot that is slowly cooked in condensed milk over a long time. Sweet sweet carrot. It was lovely.

Delhi Streets – Gulab jamun

Gulab jamun is syrupy doughnuts and one of my fave Indian desserts. They are cottage cheese dumplings soaked in warm syrup. They are a little bit like soaked cake but they melt in your mouth. Amaze! This gulab jamun was particularly delicious.

Delhi Streets – Pistachio kulfi

We had the pistachio kulfi, which is ice cream delicately flavoured w pistachio, cardamom, saffron and cinnamon served on a stick. The texture was icy but the flavour was super creamy (like condensed milk!!) with light fragrant flavours on an easy to eat popsicle.

Delhi Streets – Masala chai

We finished the meal with a warm homemade masala chai, which was spice and creamy, just lovely.

It’s no wonder that this place won an award at The Age Good Food awards. The food is remarkable. I love that it has a combination of quirky street food and classic traditional dishes. With a world of family recipes on the menu, at Delhi streets you are sure to taste the essence of India.

I heart Delhi Streets!

Olives x

Delhi Streets
Address: Katherine Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000 (in The Archway)
Website: http://www.delhistreets.com.au/
Phone: 03 9629 2620
Trading Hours: Mon-Fri (lunch): 11.30am-2.30pm, Mon-Sat (dinner): 5pm-late

Note: Olive Sundays was invited as a guest to Delhi Streets.

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Valentine’s Day 2014

Photo: Egg in the basket by Reclaimingprovincial.com.

Tomorrow is Valentines Day and the best Valentine presents come from the heart. Cooking a special dish for your beloved is sure to make them smile. There is no better way to show your love than putting your thoughts and efforts into creating something special. The way to my heart is through food and if you know someone similar then they will absolutely adore any of these delicious Valentine’s day ideas. You don’t have to be an exceptional cook to make a special meal, at he very least you just need a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Strawberry Love Heart Sponge Cakes

Photo: Strawberry Love Heart Sponge Cakes by Taste.com.

These gorgeous sponge cakes are so easy to make. Whip out that heart shaped cookie cutter and start creating your heart cakes. Fill them with whipped cream, strawberry jam and fresh strawberries. It’s a Valentine’s twist to the ol’ classic jam and cream sponge. This recipe requires more grocery buying skills than actual cooking technique but the point is that you made an effort and it looks amazing. You can make renditions to this recipe to suit your partners taste. You can make your own sponge cake, or you can  change the recipe to chocolate sponge. And you can replace the filling with anything that takes your fancy.

Sweethearts Fudge

Photo: Valentine’s Day Fudge by Crazyforcrust.com.

This isn’t your ordinary fudge. This fudge is retro. Sweet heart lollies are old school and these fudge squares are adorable. If you can’t get the right words out, let the lollies do the talking. Chocolate and vanilla fudge coupled with romantic one-liners are the perfect treat for Valentine’s day! However sometimes this fudge can be a little too forward, making statements like “KISS ME’ and ‘URS 4EVR.’ Excuse me fudge but we just met.

Handwritten Valentine Cupcakes w Chocolate Glaze

Photo: Handwritten Valentine Cupcakes w Chocolate Glaze by Marthastewart.com.

Chocolate is a favourite on Valentine’s day so instead of purchasing a store-bought box of chocolates (boring!), how about make delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes instead. If you’ve got a steady hand, you can attempt to replicate Martha Stewarts Handwritten Valentine Cupcakes with Chocolate Glaze. These are beautiful and decadent, and you can write whatever your heart wants to say.

Valentine Pizza

Photo: Valentine Pizza by Onecharmingparty.com.

Make a pizza with lots of love. This is another opportunity to use a heart shaped cookie cutter (the small one). Slap these salami hearts onto your pizza and Bob’s your uncle, you have transformed your everyday pizza into a Valentine pizza. If you’re not a salami person you can cut other toppings into hearts. Capsicum and mushrooms work well. Or if you want to make individual mini pizzas, you can cut the base into a heart shape.

Photo: Pizza is my Valentine by Weheartit.com

Also being single doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate Valentine’s day. Your Valentine can be your friend, your mum, your pet or the most special person in your life, you! Treat yourself or your Valentine to some homemade yummies for Valentine’s day.

Hope you have a lovely day.

I heart Valentines day!

Olives x

 

Love is…

The beauty of the subconscious mind, is that nice people do nice things everyday without even realising. They wear their heart on their sleeve and have sharing love with others on autopilot. Some express their love through food and its often overlooked because it’s common practice. The following documents some examples of a simple show of love.

Love is… not ordering a dessert when your friend is dieting.

Love is… cooking two separate meals for dinner to appease opposing palates.

Love is… when you order chicken dumplings because your friend doesn’t eat pork. Sigh.

Love is… eating chicken parma’s three times a week (love you pumpkins).

Love is… agreeing to share a slice of cake with a friend, even though she chooses a sugarless, gluten-free one, you still stick to your agreement.

Love is… when you want to add meat to a dish but you don’t so that your vegetarian friend can eat too. Sometimes this turns out surprisingly well.

Love is… ordering a platter to share because your friend really wants to get it. When what you really want is a normal regular meal like everyone else.

Love is… When you leave your favourite ingredient out of the recipe because your friend doesn’t like it. It doesn’t taste the same, it’s ruined. But now your friend can eat it.

Love is… when you buy a friends favourite biscuits because you know they are coming over.

Love is… politely drinking a coffee that your friend made, when you asked for her tea.

Love is when you put someone elses needs before your own, just for them, just because.

Let me know if you have any more to add to this list.

Olives x

Made with love…

Every year my friends and I go on a weekend getaway to Rye. This wonderful event includes the spectacular Cups Estate winery, the ever relaxing Peninsula hot springs day spa and the Sunnyridge (best scones in the world) strawberry farm. It is hard to get everyone together all at once, so aside all the practical stuff, it was lovely just to spend some real quality time with each other.

The sun started to descend so it was time for the big dinner question. To cook or not to cook? Dining out meant a sure fast solution to a quick and easy dinner. It’s convenient, everyone can choose what they want, no preparation is necessary and no one has to clean up. The downfall of that option is that the restaurant doesn’t know how to make the most scrumptious vegetarian lasagne in the world. Luckily my friend Rachel does. She makes a kick-ass vegetable lasagne that everyone absolutely adores. So it seemed only natural to cook that for the main…..yummmmm!

First stop, the shops! As a kid, I remember playing shopping with a plastic cash register. The more make-believe friends the merrier. As an adult, shopping is not actually fun with too many friends. Real friends have differing wants, needs, budgets, opinions and tolerance levels. Worked out just fine though.

Let the preparation begin! Rachel was directing the troops, people were cutting, chopping, mixing and scratching, nah we’re no DJ’s the truth is we were washing, peeling, dicing and boiling.

This was definitely a team building exercise in disguise, we gained useful tools like Concept collaboration (Sharing ideas and recipes), Project management (Working together to rollout the lasagne), Visual Merchandising (Preparing the table) and Quality Control (Tasting the foods). Very productive!

The dinner was marvellous! It was a traditional  home-style meal cooked by my very own friends. Sharing love through the medium of food. What a magnificent art piece to capture in the memory of my stomach.

So the recipe for happiness? Here it is…a dash of love, a sprinkle of friendship, a cup of laughter and a spoonful of sugar make the perfect medicine for a busy lifestyle. Convenience usually overrides effort these days but don’t over-estimate the power of convenience because it’s the smallest effort that usually creates the biggest smiles.

Olives x