Grilled chicken breast, mashed potato, and salad.
One of the readers of this blog recently asked me to write about, and post pictures, of the kind of food I’d normally eat back home. So, here it is! This is the Australian meal that I cooked last night — grilled marinated chicken breast, mashed potato, and salad.
Australian meals tend to be very plain and simple. They often feature a piece of meat (beef, lamb or chicken), and a few different types of vegetables. We like to have plenty of barbeques. When we’re not barbequing our meat outdoors, we often grill it indoors.
George Foreman grill.
So that I could still grill meat easily in India, I brought with me my marvelous electronic Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine — the George Foreman Grill.
Marinated chicken breast inside the grill.
This clam shaped grill opens up, the meat is placed inside, and the lid closed. A drip tray is placed at the bottom of the grill to catch any run-off from the cooking process.
For this meal, I marinated the chicken breasts in mustard, with whole mustard seeds, for around an hour before cooking them.
The end result -- grilled chicken breast.
The grill gets very hot, enabling the meat to be cooked in less than five minutes.
Salad of lettuce, cucumber, capiscum, and tomato.
The salad that I made to go with the meal was also a simple one. It had rocket lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and capsicum. To give the salad some extra flavour, I sprinkled balsamic vinegar over it.
To flavour the mashed potato, I added a little garlic paste, chilli powder, salt, and pepper.
These days though, I prefer to eat Indian food. I only cook meals like this once every couple of weeks.
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
thanks for posting the pictures….looks very good…..it’s good to know the styles of food people eat around the world….i often watch american sitcoms or european movies…..but am mostly unaware of the culture/food of australia……
wow…that looks so tempting….. now that you have moved to India, if you don’t mind me asking, what is it that about home that you miss the most???
Regular Aussie food is so much like regular American food in many respects. One Aussie food I don’t miss here in the US is the split pea stuff, can’t remember what it’s called. One Aussie food I do miss is the lovely meat pies. We just don’t do anything similar here. I have to go to a Kiwi pub in the next city over to buy their exorbitantly expensive ones made from New Zealand cheese and meats, imported just for them.
We have an Outback Steakhouse right around the corner from my house so I know just the kind of food you guys eat down under!
Just like how I know all Italian food must be as good as Pasta Bravo or Pizza Hut! 
hehehe
Seriously, my older brother lived in Australia for a couple of years and his love for grilling grew to an obsession.
But that’s fine with me because he can grill my corn like NO BODY’S business!
Good and yummy post!
I love me my George Foreman thingie! Best appliance I ever bought.
That chicken looks good. Mashed potatoes should be slapped straight onto my thighs but are so good. I had no idea that rocket was available in India. A long time ago, when I left India there was no such thing as lettuce being freely available unless you were willing to pay a kings ransom for it.
Are there any regional specialties in Australia? The country is huge! Like what kind of restaurants should a foodie look for in each quarter.? What is aborginal food like? Has a native way of cooking with native produce been preserved?
Mash oh how I love thee! When we have guest I like to wow them with my chicken schnitzel or home made pub fare, spaghetti bolognese (even though one pack of good pasta can cost over rs100!) or anything from Eastern Europe where my parents are from. I once made a dish called sarma (cabbage roles) and was told by the aunties that all European cooking was a take off of Indian dishes. (I could hear all the Slavic’s in the world being outraged by that comment)
AnotherKiranNYC Australian food comes form all the cultures that inhabit the great big land. You find that some times it uses traditional native product like Kangaroo or Crocodile but the style is called modern Australian cuisine because it incorporates style, flavour and technique from other parts of the world. Australia has some of the best food in the world and Melbourne is Mecca for any food lover. You think of any type of cuisine and there will be a place where you can buy it.
scarlettd1ar1es – well, the food that I miss most from home is definitely fish n chips n potato cakes, cooked fresh from the fish n chip shop. I used to get a piece of grilled fish, chips, and a couple of potato cakes (thin piece of potato deep fried in batter) and take them down to the beach at sunset. I’d sit there and have them with a beer. It was always so peaceful. Things like that are what I really miss about home — just being able to go outdoors, where it’s not crowded, and relax. I miss getting in my car and going for a drive somewhere. I also miss being able to dress in comfortable clothing such as dresses during summer. My legs never get to see the sun in India and are a horrible glowing white colour!
AnotherKiranInNYC – I had no idea that rocket was available in India either until I came across it in my favourite store Hypercity. I was just as excited as when I found fresh basil. My husband is amazed with the things I bring home sometimes — stuff that he’s never tasted in India before.
I became really fond of eating kangaroo before I came to India. It’s becoming really popular in Australia and is widely available in the supermarket there. I got the shock of my life the other day though when I was shopping in Hypercity in Mumbai (yet again) and came across fresh emu meat in their meat section!
I’ve never eaten emu in Australia before, let alone India. Needless to say, I didn’t buy any!
V – I love making a yummy spaghetti bolognese too. I don’t mind paying the 100 rupees for pasta occasionally, but my biggest problem in India is finding the meat to put in it. Obviously minced beef is difficult to come across. I started using minced mutton, until I found out that most of the time it’s actually goat not lamb!!
GG – I miss meat pies too. When they’re well made, they’re one of the best foods Australia has to offer. My dad found a small country bakery near his house in Australia that sold meat pies with chilli in them. They were soooo good!
Meat pie… was your recipe something like this?
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/australian-meat-pie-recipe/index.html
Do you have another to share? Die you use puff pastry or a pie shell?
It seems very kid friendly. I think mine would like that for dinner tonight.
That’s a rather exotic gourmet version of an Aussie meat pie. The gravy is usually much plainer and doesn’t have soy sauce, or coriander or celery seeds.
Here’s another more traditional recipe, with picture (courtesy of one of my colleagues at About.com). This recipe is dinky di (Aussie slang for the real thing). lol
http://australianfood.about.com/od/beeflamb/r/AussieMeatPie.htm
I’m guessing that you could make it with either puff pastry or pie shell. To tell you the truth, I’ve never made one. Oh, the shame! I’m not much of a baker.
Pies are VERY kid friendly! We serve mini versions of them (called party pies) at kid’s birthday parties, along with sausage rolls and other pastries. Kids love them.
Yum, looks good! I wish I could make mashed potatoes more, but my husband hates them. He thinks they taste “dead.” One of my family’s favorite things at Thanksgiving is the lovely rich mashed potatoes laden with butter and cream, with gravy on top–but my husband recently confessed that he hated it. Oh well, more for me!
Why can’t you wear dresses in the summer? Is it because you’d get stared at more? I’ve worn dresses and skirts around Delhi when I was there, and didn’t feel like I got stared at any more than usual.
Ha ha party pies and sausage roles. Best food in the world, oh and fairy bread, chocolate crackles. YUM! Why dont you try the spag bolo with chicken mince?
Do you have a oven? I always miss baking. Sometimes i dream of baking like a pav or cakes or even a roast chicken with roasted poatatos. I cant wait to have a place that has the energy to work a oven! These are my kitchen dreams a oven and a food processor…..
D – I’m so happy my husband loves mashed potatoes, although I do spice it up a bit for him! The summer dresses I like to wear are ones with spaghetti straps and length to the knee. I’m not game to show any leg at all. I was shopping with my sister in law one day and jokingly suggested I was going to buy a knee length skirt and she looked aghast! lol. I like to have as little of my shoulders as possible covered in the summer because it’s much cooler, but it just doesn’t feel decent here.
V – that’s a good idea about using chicken mince. I might give it a go next time. I don’t have an oven but have been thinking about buying one of those small portable ones, just so I can bake from time to time. But then, there’s the problem of finding cream. I made creamy pasta once, and had to buy imported cream which was sooo expensive. So no cream cakes or pav.
I’d sure love to cook a roast though! Roast potatoes are my fav.
So yes, I did make the Meat pie! Ohhhh the kids loved it. My neighbour’s girl… who will eat nothing but chicken nuggets for breakfast, lunch and dinner was persuaded to try the dinner. She loved it too. After an active afternoon on our backyard trampoline, the three kids fell upon thier dinner plates with enthusiasm. They loved, loved the meat filling and scraped it all out just leaving the pastry crust for the husband and me for our dinner later in the evening but thats what kids do, so its all good. There was mashed sweet potatoes with garlic and rosemary on the side and steamed asparagus. Nice colorful plate.
I have eaten gator and ostrich… like gamey chicken… but then everything pretty much tastes like chicken… haha. Emu, and kangaroo… hmmm now thats an adventure! What does Kangaroo taste like anyway and how do you cook it… grilled steaks?
AnotherKiranInNYC – Wow!! That is SO cool! I’m really impressed that you made the meat pie. And am even happier that everyone loved it so much!! My mouth is watering over your description of the meal. It sounds like you’re a wonderful cook.
The kangaroo can be grilled (of course!) or even chopped up and put in a stir fry. When it’s grilled it tastes like a cross between beef steak and lamb, I think. It’s actually really nutritious and healthy because the kangaroos roam wild. The meat has very little fat, and certainly no chemicals. It ate crocodile once and it tasted a bit gritty. Didn’t like it much!
Sharell, you can use chicken in spaghetti, too, shredded or cubed. It’s really delicious! You don’t need beef.
I personally would have tried the emu! I can get ostrich here at a place called Whole Foods and it’s the tastiest meat I’ve ever had. Soooo yummy. It’s like beef wishes it could be, and it’s very healthy.
I tried ‘roo in the UK, but I had trouble eating it because of my own personal hangups about how cute they are.
Sharrell,
You keep calling them potato cakes but those of us north of the border (also otherwise known as being form the First State
) call them Scallops… 
Oh you mexicans 
That mash is looking a lot thicker than what I’d get at my local with the usual Schnitty (then again, the pub probably nukes the horrible ‘ready to eat’ mash they got from Woolies)
Damn – all this talk of the pub grub is making me want to head out friday evening, sipping on a schooner full of Coopers Pale, devouring a Chicken Parm as the long weekend kicks in.
(Good luck explaining the slang in this post to your regular readers
)
Cheers,
T
Oh, I sooo miss pub grub! It’s my favourite tucker. As for scallops…. those are seafood!! And Woolies… us mexicans call it Safeway!
Where do i start?
Firstly. Thats an amazing healthy meal. Also, my typical meal while i was down under, with a slight indian touch. No wonder most aussie’s that are home fed are lean,mean and strong. Low carb works wonders.
Anyone who isn’t into fish n chips is a sad person. To come home on tired day with the hot package in hand is reassuringly relaxing while in transit itself.
A piece of grilled meat on a balmy evening with friends,music,booze and chatter – priceless moments. I am seriously obsessive.
When it comes down to Aussie lamb it punches squarely at Indian goat’s n**s. Can’t beat the flavour.
Charcoal chicken – big fan. Can down a full large chicken in 2 meals or less.(red rooster not so bad).
Kangaroo stirfry – just nice. Woolies have ‘em always stocked. Coles not that much.
Turkey mince for bolognese is awesome too. Funny thing, in my foreign food forsaken town(Tiruppur) a local deli sells San Remo pasta all the way from aussie, really surprised to find out. They have spaghetti to mac all covered. This town is fraction of size of mumbai.
Other stuff i enjoy there includes, chicken/lamb chipolatas. Chicken parma – the most succulent ever.Prawns!. Sundried tomatoes,feta cheese and other european varieties like pepato(pepper jack), ajvar(spread), marinated olives from deli, greek style yoghurt that i used to purchase from a greek store called ‘Psarakos’. Throw the above into a salad and u won’t need a dressing.
My best dressing though- EV olive oil+raspberry wine vinegar+small squirt of lemon+pepper.
Oh, how did anyone ever forget to mention the wild caught tasmanian salmon. I like to sear them on cast iron. My fav of all.
When i said i am obsessed with grilling, i mean it. I shipped(by sea with all my belongings) me a four burner BBQ range-hood(from k-mart) and get this, i wasn’t charged at customs cuz i was a returning student. And of course i got a store-brand(BIG-W,dirt cheap) equivalent of George Foreman grill. I refrain using this one cuz i don’t want teflon leaching. Besides the bbq is my choice. Spatchcock a whole chicken on the grill, can’t go wrong.
Oh wow Madhu, it really looks like you got to experience the best of Aussie food. I’m so pleased! It doesn’t sound like you missed rice at all.
But there are so many things you’ve made me miss. Ah, kangaroo stir fry!! (Yes, for those who aren’t aware Australians do eat their national animal. 
). Turkey mince… my mum is a huge fan of it. And the salmon. And don’t mention sundried tomatoes….please. My mouth is watering too much! 
I used to love them with a slice of cheese on crackers, and in pasta with smoked salmon. And that dressing of yours sounds so tasty! 