visit Sunshine Coast – Sunshine Coasting

Brouhaha Brewery

Brouhaha

noun

A noisy and overexcited reaction or response to something…

Synchronicity

noun

The simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.

It was synchronicity that led us to lunch at Brouhaha Brewery. Synchronicity and instagram. You see, it was a few days before Mother’s Day and my husband had uncharacteristically failed to organise a venue for lunch. Which translates to he realised that Mother’s Day was on Sunday, hadn’t booked anywhere, had no idea where to book, so threw his hands up in the air and said, ‘well, I don’t know where you want to go!’

As it happened, I’d been scrolling through instagram and just happened to see a post from Brouhaha. ‘Here,’ I said. ‘Let’s try here.’ Synchronicity.

So we did.

Mother’s Day is rarely a good day to try a new place out. The menu is usually cut down, the service staff are run ragged, and every last available inch of space is occupied. And yes, that was the case with Brouhaha too – but it was Mother’s Day – and we ate early enough that the roast was fresh and good (a real Sunday roast with proper yorkies, perfectly cooked veg and fresh horseradish…yes, fresh – not out of a jar).

Plus, the service was still good…and the pork scratchings with beer mustard dip worth the trip alone.

‘We’ll come back another day,’ we promised ourselves. ‘When it’s not Mother’s Day and the full menu is available.’

That someday was today. With beer loving friends in town, it was the perfect excuse to revisit Brouhaha. This time around we took our time, chose the beer for the paddle, and sat outside on the deck.

The verdict? I think we’ll need to come back again some time to make really sure that it’s worth coming back 🙂

You’ll find Brouhaha Brewery in Coral Street, Maleny. Booking is recommended and, the best bit, there’s plenty of parking. If you’re after more information, you can find it on the website. Oh, and there’s even an open fire for those cold, wintry, Sunshine Coast days…

Market update…and how to make chicken biryani

So yesterday we took ourselves off to Yandina Markets. I’d heard (and read) great things about this market and am sure we would have enjoyed it more if we were there to buy plants or look at bric-a-brac…but we weren’t. We were there for fresh produce.

I ended up buying some lovely young ginger and a bulb of garlic, and Miss T indulged in a donut, but we all voted to head back to Hinterland Harvest for our veggies.

Anyways, I’ll tell you more about Yandina next time.

Aside from dumplings for breakfast (yum), my star ingredient this week was a premixed Biryani spice mix from Di 4 Spice. You can find her on Facebook here.

Biryani is something we all enjoy – and that I especially love the next morning for brekky. With a fried egg on top, it’s a little like kedgeree, but with chicken.

Anyways, this spice mix was a great short-cut – I can’t wait to try some of the other mixes. Oh, if you want the original recipe, you’ll find it here.

What you need

300g (1 ½ cups) long grain rice. We use basmati as it’s lower GI

2 tbsp olive oil or rice bran oil. You can also use coconut oil if you like.

1 onion, finely sliced.

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

Diced chicken thighs- say 600-650g.

1 chopped birdseye chilli. We like it hot & left the seeds in. You might find the spice mix has enough heat for you.

1 ½ – 2 tablespoons biryani spice mix

200ml thick plain yoghurt

1 tsp sugar (I’m sugar free, so leave this out)

a handful of toasted slivered almonds…or cashews… to serve

1/3 cup roughly chopped coriander leaves to serve

What you do with it

Cook the rice in boiling salted water for 8 minutes, then drain and set aside. The rice will continue to cook later…
Heat the onion in a large frypan over medium heat, add the onion and cook for a few minutes until they soften.
Add the garlic, ginger and the spice mix and stir it all through.
Add the chicken and cook for about 3 minutes
Spoon in the yoghurt, stir it all through, then reduce the heat to very low.

Carefully spoon the rice on top of the sauce. Cover it with a (clean) tea towel, then place the lid on top. This sounds strange, but it keeps it all steaming nicely.

Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it sit for a further 10 minutes. Refrain from the temptation to take the lid off and have a peek- and smack his knuckles (softly, of course- we don’t tolerate violence of any sort here) when your husband tries to do that.
Remove the lid, add the nuts and half the coriander and stir well to combine.

Garnish with the remaining coriander.

Alexandra Headland

Located between Mooloolaba and Maroochydore, Alex (as the locals call it) is a long sweeping stretch of sand with great surf and fabulous views up to Old Woman Island of Mudjimba and, further up, Mount Coolum.

Popular with surfers – especially around the Headland at at the northern end of the beach – there’s also good swimming for families in the patrolled section near the surf club.