Tuesday, July 12, 2005

A Little Spicy Adventure Part III - Sweet Ending

Spicy Adventure - Janani Shopfront
♥ Janani Take-Away
So we walked away with a very full stomach after a great Indian/Sri Lankan lunch but there was just a tid bit that was missing. No great meal is completed without a sweet ending!

Right after lunch, I was very eager to head towards the take-away section of Janani, located just at one end of the restaurant but with a different entrance, where Saffron told us we could get some great Indian sweets there. As we walked towards the take-away section, it was camera action time again as AugustusGloop and I had fun snapping up pics of the very distinctive Indian posters on the wall, the symbols/logos, and decorative ornaments at Janani.

♥ tabeshimashita @ Janani, Homebush on 26 June 2005
Spicy Adventure - Indian Sweets Gulab Jamun
♥ Gulab Jamun
It was hard work to squeeze past an endless queue of locals at the take-away section to check out all the yummies we could bring home as souvenir or as a show-off. What appeared in front of us was an amazing array of sweets in the one shelf and on the other, there was a selection of savoury buns and snacks.

I, of course, had eyes only for sweet things! The gulab jamun (above) drenched in shiny syrup looked totally inviting. These round little caramelly balls drowned in syrup are milk balls made from a mixture of milk, flour and milk powder, then deep fried until brown. The syrup is probably a mix of rose water, cardamon pods and sugar.

Spicy Adventure - Janani Indian Almond Milk Sweets
♥ Indian Almond Milk Sweets
There was many different type of Indian sweets on display. This is one of them and I am guessing that this is almond milk sweets.

pinkcocoa: excuse me (pointing at one of the sweets), can you tell me what sort of sweets this is?
shopkeeper: (looking at pinkcocoa very very strangely) er...these are just Indian sweets! Now, which one do you want?

Spicy Adventure - Janani Indian Sweets
♥ Boxes of Coconutty Looking Balls
Piles high up on the display counters were boxes of coconutty looking balls that I could not identify. Saffron did mention to me what these were but alas, I was a lazy foodie and couldn't be bothered to take down all these different and interesting names. Actually I could not even remember if these were savoury or sweet. So Saffron, pleaseeee help!

Both AugustusGloop and I were two very happy and satisfied foodie as we bid farewell to Saffron who headed in the opposite direction from us. And there we were, AG and I at the Homebush station waiting for the train to come.

Spicy Adventure - Pinkcocoa's bag of Goodies at Homebush Station
♥ Pinkcocoa's Bag of Goodies
As we sat waiting, AG and I cast a look at each other and then we both started to sort our shopping bags. We took out each item one by one and as dedicated foodie, we started a photographic session right there, on the station bench.

Spicy Adventure - AugustusGloop doing decorative Photographic touch
♥ AG doing decorative Photographic Touches
Here's AG sorting out her shopping bag. Ha! Now I have showcased both Saffron's and AG's fingers/hands :"p

From the corner of my eyes, I noticed two Chinese couples sitting on the bench next to ours, looking at us very very strangely. Shortly after, the two started to discuss what the two of us were doing rather loudly, and in Mandarin. I didn't catch what they were talking about though but the conversation had involved something like tourist, weird...strange..that sort of words. *yikes*

Spicy Adventure - Janani Indian Sweets
♥ Assorted Indian Sweets
These were the Indian sweets I bought from Janani. Clockwise from top: burnt milk sweets, milk sweets, and I think the dark brown jelly-like sweets is vattilappam but I am not sure.

The milk sweets have the texture that melt-in-your-mouth! It's very sweet, slightly powdery and very very milky as well as buttery. It tasted a little like kuih mor (bite-sized milk cookies) from Brunei! I think both the milk sweets and kuih mor must have been made using very similar ingredients. Perhaps kuih mor stems from Indian milk sweets as they share the same main ingredient - ghee.

Spicy Adventure - Janani Kalu Dohdol
♥ Kalu Dohdol
While on the train, AG had kindly offered half of her kalu dohdol to me. The two of us were trying to snap a good pics of this sweets but argh, the train ride was rather bumpy. We couldn't stop our arms from shaking thus the rather blurry photos here.

The kalu dohdol has a soft and chewy skin that is rather bland, I would say. The filling was sweet with a strong Indian flavours of cardamon, nutmeg and cinnamon. It was quite nutty as well.

pinkcocoa: This is very..er...
AG:: very Indian!
pinkcocoa: yes yes! It's just very Indian!
AG: yup, very Indian.

So this concluded the little Spicy Adventure of three cute little Sydney foodies! I am pretty sure there is more adventure of this sort to come. :-)

♥ Janani
32 Burlington Road
Homebush NSW
Australia
tel. +61 2 9763 2306


♥ Related Posts
Pinkcocoa
A Little Spicy Adventure Part I - Sub-Continental Shopping Spree
A Little Spicy Adventure Part II - Eat Up!

Saffron at Writing on a Paper Napkin
Spice Adventures: Part I
Spice Adventures: Part II

AugustusGloop at Grab Your Fork
Spice Up Your Life Part I: Saffron's Spice Tour
Spice Up Your Life Part II: Janani, Homebush
Spice Up Your Life Part III: Janani Sweets, Homebush