BURGHER ASSOCIATION (AUSTRALIA) INC Postal Address: PO Box 75 Clarinda VIC 3169 ABN - 28 890 322 651 ~ INC. REG. NO. A 0007821F Web Site: http://www.burgherassocn.org.au September 2016 Spring News Bulletin Sponsored by Victorian Multicultural Commission COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT 2015/16 President Mr Hermann Loos - 03 9827 4455 hermann r [email protected] Vice President Mrs Tamaris Lourensz - 03 5981 8187 [email protected] Secretary Mr Harvey Foenander - 03 8790 1610 [email protected] Assistant Secretary Mrs Rosemary Quyn - 03 9563 7298 [email protected] Treasurer Mr Bert Van Geyzel - 03 9557 3576 [email protected] Assistant Treasurer Mr Tyrone Pereira - 0418 362 845 [email protected] Editor Mr Neville Davidson - 03 97111 922 [email protected] Public Relations Manager Mrs Elaine Jansz - 03 9798 6315 [email protected] Premises Manager Mr Bevill Jansz - 03 9798 6315 [email protected] Customer Relations Manager Mrs Breeda Foenander - 03 8790 1610 [email protected] COMMITTEE Mrs Carol Loos - 03 9827 4455 Mr Fred Clarke - 03 8759 0920 Mrs Dyan Davidson - 03 97111 922 2 Meet the Sri Lankan crepe that Australians are hopping mad for Described as the love child of a crepe and a crumpet, Australia can't get enough of the Sri Lankan bowl-shaped pancake known as the hopper. By Mariam Digges 22 Jul 2016 In 2013, pancakes and crepes were two of most searched recipes on Google. Fast-forward to 2016 and there's a new trend battering up around the country. Meet the hopper: Sri Lanka's street food answer to the pancake. Indian food royalty Madhur Jaffrey described it as the love child of a crepe and a crumpet. They're crisp and golden on the edges, light and spongey in the centre, and have a slightly sour flavour thanks to the fermented rice flour and coconut milk in their batter. On the streets of Sri Lanka, hoppers are both cooked up plain or with an egg in them, and then used to mop up everything from okra curries, to buffalo curd along the coast, to feisty sambols. Britons are no strangers to hoppers, with many markets in London now offering the coconut batter-based street food, while musician Nick Cave has been known to wolf down a few at Brighton's Moonstone restaurant. And it's a similar story in Melbourne's Glen Waverley. “Hoppers are very popular here because there is a huge population of Sri Lankans in Melbourne, and the population is growing over Australia,” tells Gerard V of Elephant Corridor in Glen Waverley. According to Gerard, no matter where in the world you are, you should eat a hopper with your fingers, like you would a roti or naan. While they've been around in Melbourne's suburban outskirts for some time, the hopper has only recently made the leap into more mainstream dining in Sydney – it's on the menu at restaurants such as Indu in the CBD and, throughout July, at a pop-up at Chippendale's Brickfields. If you feel like making your own, Mrs. Amarasakara's hoppers take about six hours, so chef Peter Kuruvita recommends preparing it in the morning, perhaps before work, and leaving it in a warm place so it is ready in the evening. “It's the most perfect breakfast in the world,” says SBS Seasonal Cook columnist and ex Berta Sydney chef O Tama Carey. “For years, the Australian government had said not to travel to Sri Lanka. But there's a lot more change going on over there at the moment and I think they're getting a lot more tourism. So I think people are becoming more aware of it [the hopper].” Carey's first experience of the hopper was during a trip to the country as a teenager with her Sri Lankan-born mother. Ever since, she's been on a quest to perfect her batter. “Whenever I go there, I'm always on the hunt for people making hoppers and harassing them for their recipes,” she says. For her hoppers, Carey ferments yeast over two days to develop their signature, slightly tart flavour. She then serves them with mutton, fish and potato curries and punchy Sri Lankan sambols. The chef has been testing the waters at a pop-up restaurant at Brickfields each Sunday night during July while she hunts down a more permanent site south of the CBD. “Basically, Lankan Filling Station is going to be a hopper shop: Sri Lankan street food using the best ingredients we can find, but still doing that fast-in-fast-out style and in a modern setting.” 3 cont’d .... At Sydney's Orange Grove Markets in Lilyfield, Ruvanie de Zoysa and former MasterChef Australia contestant Kumar Pereira's Hopper Kadé has locals queuing up each Saturday morning. While Hopper Kadé serve hoppers in the traditional way – with curries of lentil and vegetable mallung (stir-fry) and coconut sambal – it's their free-range bacon and egg version that has been inciting hopper fever. “We've taken it one step further by introducing a caramelised bacon crumb and roasted chili tomatoes, which adds a bit of heat,” Pereira explains. “It's a reinvention of something that's both eastern and western.” The idea for Hopper Kadé was born when de Zoysa (who, like Pereira, has a Sri Lankan background) was on maternity leave. “But I knew it couldn't be around my cooking because it would be a dismal failure,” she tells. “And so I happened to be online – I didn't know anything about Kumar and his background in MasterChef – but I saw that he did Sri Lankan cooking. The stars all aligned and he rang me back immediately and said he had been thinking about doing something like this for a while and wanted to collaborate.” It's taken four years for Pereira to master his hopper batter, which uses a naturally fermented red rice flour and coconut water. It's a more fibrous, lower-GI take on the traditional version, and highlights one of Hopper Kadé's defining points. “It's very hard to find food on the go that isn't empty calories, but I think the hopper lends itself beautifully to that,” de Zoysa says. “One of our values is we don't like to use refined sugar where possible, and we use organic and seasonal produce as much as we can.” “When you become a mum, you suddenly become aware of having good, nutritious food for your kids. My two-year-old eats the bacon and egg hopper quite happily in the morning. And at least my conscience feels better.” --oo0oo– Care for a Laugh? The Chinese First Officer and the Captain were flying together. It was the first time they had flown together, and it was obvious by their silence that they didn't get along. After 30 minutes, the Captain finally spoke. He said, "I don't like Chinese." The First Officer replied, "Ooooh, no like Chinese? Why that?" The Captain said, "You bombed Pearl Harbor. That's why I don't like Chinese." The First Officer said, "Nooooo, noooo ... Chinese not bomb Pearl Harbor. That JAPANESE, not Chinese." And the Captain answered, "Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese ... it doesn't matter. They're all alike." Another 30 minutes of silence. Finally the First Officer said, "No like Jew." The Captain replied, "Why not? Why don't you like Jews?" "Jews sink Titanic." The Captain tried to correct him, "No, no. The Jews didn't sink the Titanic, it was an iceberg." "Iceberg, Goldberg, Rosenberg, Spielberg ... no mattah ... all same 4 Winter Lunch Get-Together 28 August 2016 5 6 Fascinating Facts Where is the world's coldest place? East Antarctic Plateau ... On the high ridge of the East Antarctic Plateau, the temperature can drop to as low as -93.22222 degrees celsius, which was recorded in August, 2010. Where is the world's most populated city? Shanghai ... At a whopping 24,150,000 permanent inhabitants, Shanghai is the only city that is home to over 24 million people in one city. Where is the world's least populated city? Vatican City ... With a paltry population of 842, the city-state of Vatican City is the smallest city and state in the world. Where is the world's poorest city in the poorest country? Kinshasa, Congo .... It is the poorest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is also the poorest country in the world, at a GDP of $55 billion. Many of its residents live on less than $1 a day. What is the highest point in the world? Mount Everest ... Towering 29,029 feet in the air, the top of Mount Everest is the closest you can get to touching outer space while still standing on Earth. Where is the lowest point in the world? The Challenger Deep Trench ... It is the lowest known natural point in the world at 35,797 ft below sea level at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Only three people have ever made it to the bottom in a submersible, one of whom was filmmaker James Cameron. Where is the wettest spot on Earth? (and it's not the Amazon!) Mawsynram, India ... In this city in India, it rains an average of 467.35 inches per year, and has a record of 1000 inches in 1985. It is much more than any rain forest! cont’d .... 7 Where is the driest spot on Earth? (It's not the Sahara!) The Atacama Desert ... The 600 miles of South America's Atacama Desert is recorded as the driest place on Earth, no contest.