We landed on a cold winter's night in the beautiful city of Sydney. This move had taken us lots and lots of time to think through and finally execute and while it was incredibly lucky and smooth if you look at the larger picture, the smaller details did get to us from time to time.
The next day was a Saturday and true to the compulsive cook in me, we went searching for the nearest Indian grocery store in Sydney which was in Surry Hills, called MGM Spices. It was small but packed with all the familiar jars and bottles, smells and textures. I was mighty happy and prioritized the buying of dahi (Indian yogurt), dosa batter, toor dal, turmeric, mustard, frozen green chillies, and frozen coconut. I even managed to check out the other Indian store, Shalimar Spices, around the corner and found them to be a tad more expensive. They do have smaller packets of spices which are more convenient though so I'd check them out both before deciding to buy stuff in future.
I had obsessively researched the availability of shallots or chinna vengayam (ulli in Malayalam) in Sydney and delighted to find frozen ones in the Indian store. I needn't have worried though. The French shallots they have in Coles and Woolies, although quite expensive, taste and smell almost exactly like Asian shallots and worked beautifully in the sambar I made for dinner on day 2 of our arrival here.
I have a feeling we are going to love it here.
The next day was a Saturday and true to the compulsive cook in me, we went searching for the nearest Indian grocery store in Sydney which was in Surry Hills, called MGM Spices. It was small but packed with all the familiar jars and bottles, smells and textures. I was mighty happy and prioritized the buying of dahi (Indian yogurt), dosa batter, toor dal, turmeric, mustard, frozen green chillies, and frozen coconut. I even managed to check out the other Indian store, Shalimar Spices, around the corner and found them to be a tad more expensive. They do have smaller packets of spices which are more convenient though so I'd check them out both before deciding to buy stuff in future.
I had obsessively researched the availability of shallots or chinna vengayam (ulli in Malayalam) in Sydney and delighted to find frozen ones in the Indian store. I needn't have worried though. The French shallots they have in Coles and Woolies, although quite expensive, taste and smell almost exactly like Asian shallots and worked beautifully in the sambar I made for dinner on day 2 of our arrival here.
I have a feeling we are going to love it here.
