The Western Week - Day 6

Phew... We're now at Day 6 and there's one more day to go for our Western Week Challenge. Yay! Am quite looking forward to the end of my self initiated challenge : P

Day 6 dinner was a simple one - Spaghetti Cabonara!

TheLoyalFan says: ' This cabonara was a little too cheesy for me. I also would have preferred smoky bacon. Other than that, it was very good. Noms!'

Yum yum yums... 6 days have came and gone. And the final day is coming soon too!

Cost for Day 6: GBP 1.20 for 2 pax.

The Western Week - Day 4

Spicy Garlic Mushroom Spaghetti! Finally, something different : )

This is a new recipe I found on the Internet and thought of giving it a try since it is quite easy. So here goes...

First, fry some garlic, onion, dried chilli and mushroom in a pan with some cooking oil. For budgetary experimental purposes, I bought sliced mushroom in a tin. Hahahahahah! Plus, this can save some slicing time for me too! Once the onion & garlic are fragrant, pour in carrots and other vegetables that you'd like it in your sauce. Celery and olives should taste great and add colour in it as well.

While frying these ingredients, remember to boil the spaghetti too!

After frying for about 5 minutes, pour a tin of chopped tomatoes and give it a good mix. Add in some herbs such as parsley or... mixed herbs. However, I'm out of mixed herbs so I used basil instead : P  Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Let the sauce simmer in low or medium heat until the sauce has been reduced and thicken. Pour in the drained spaghetti and give it a good toss!

Done!

Toss Toss Toss!

Ready to be eaten, with some cheese! Yummie!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tasted alot like Puttanesca. It has a more fusiony Asian twist though. I liked the spicyness... noms!'

"Fusiony Asian Twist"? o.O!!!

Well, I think it turned out quite nice. Wish there were more mushroom and more of it! Hehehehe.

Cost for Day 4: GBP 1.70 for 2 pax

Spaghetti Cabonara

Back home, I always remember that we would order this at Italian restaurants to eat this creamy, fragrant and rich dish. The price of it is quite expensive and at times some restaurants doesn't do a good job. Hence, it either tasted too rich or too bland - not very balance.

During our stay here in Manchester, we decided to learn some simple western dishes in order to adapt to the local taste and cuisine. This is to keep our cost of living lower and at the same time, enjoying what the 'Gwei Lous' eat : )

One of the simple western dish was this - the Cabonara. Again, at first, we thought it was a difficult dish to prepare. But when we first tried it out, it was so simple that I remembered we made this twice a week. LOL!

So, here goes...

First, slice up some onions and 2 cloves of garlic. Then slice up smoked bacons and mushrooms. The reason of using smoked bacon is that it gives more flavour to the dish and your mushroom will be tastier too!

In a separate bowl, beat an egg and add equal portion of single cream. Add in some finely grated cheese into the bowl and give them all a good whisking to combine all goodies together!

Before you start frying the ingredients, boil your spaghetti - very important : P

Next, heat up your pan with a knob of butter. Cooking oil would be just fine too! Fry the onion and garlic until it is fragrant then pour in the bacons and mushrooms. Give it a good 3-5 minutes fry, until the bacons and mushrooms are thoroughly cooked. Season some pepper and salt during the stir-fry. Once your spaghetti is ready, drain the water and pour the spaghetti into the pan. Remove the pan from direct heat and pour in the creamy mixture into the pan. Give it a proper toss until everything is evenly mixed.

Et voila! C'est tout!

Spaghetti Cabonara with cream. The cream is starting to have tiny lumps.

Spaghetti Cabonara with milk.

Mmm... Cabonara... yum yum! The cream gives a very rich texture to the dish. However, I would prefer using milk instead because I like to enjoy my Cabonara without feeling all stuffed and bloated.

Oh yes, another thing I noticed is that when you use cream, one must toss it quickly and remove it from any heat! This is to avoid the cream mixture from splitting. When it splits, you'll notice that the egg is starting to cook and there would be lumps.

TheLoyalFan says: 'Cream makes all the difference! Silky and creamy, and aromatic from the smoked bacon... ooo yums! Made me remember why carbonara was among my favourites!'

Cabonara checked!!! Trust me, if I can do it, so can you!

Have fun!

Assam Laksa

Yes. You read it right : ) We all know that Assam Laksa is quite a tedious dish to prepare. If I read correctly from the Internet, you'll need to prepare a lot of ingredients such as the Ikan Parang, Assam Keping, Belacan... the list goes on. However, my mother-in-law taught me this version of Assam Laksa - almost instant and economical. I couldn't believe it myself and decided to learn and try it too!

Meet the ingredients! As you can see, most of the stuff are in a can. (Cheap cheap!) Hehehe and I think most of these stuff can be bought at the normal supermarket. I think the prawn paste, chilli powder (of which I forgot to place in the group photo) and assam keping might need to get it from the Asian Supermarket. Apart from that, you're ready to roll and make your own Assam Laksa! Weee!

First, chop and slice up the onion, cucumber and pineapples. Then, using a can opener, open up all your tinned fishes (Tuna & sardine, or both sardines) and tomato. I used peeled plum tomatoes because it is cheap! Once done, you're ready to move on the next step.

Stir fry a little bit of onion in a pot until fragrant. Then pour your tinned fishes and tomatoes and give it a good fry. Add water to increase soup volume, otherwise, the soup would be lumpy than the 'soupy' texture. As an alternative, I think you can add another can of tomatoes if you're cooking for more people.
For its sour and spicy taste, put in some Assam Keping. Do note that the assam keping needs to be boiled for a good half an hour so that the sour flavouring will be released into the soup. Add in chilli powder or dried chilli for the spicyness.

If you find that your soup has become too sour, balance it out with some sugar. Not sour enough? Add more assam keping lor... ^ ^ Let the soup simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the meat does not stick at the base of the pot. Season with salt if you find it too bland.

Usually the noodles would be thick rice noodles. However, we can't seem to find it in our Asian Supermarket and hence, decided to use... spaghetti! Hehehehehe. So boil the noodles as the usual method and we're ready to serve.

Turns out that our Assam Laksa was quite good. With some prawn paste added into the noodles, the dish just reminded me so much of Penang's Assam Laksa. We didn't make it too spicy as TheLoyalFan was having sore throat. Nonetheless, adding more dried chilli or perhaps fresh chilli will make the soup more spicy. If you are able to find the Daun Kesum (Completely clueless in english) and mint leaves, splendid! The spaghetti? Well, we think that it was a good choice as the noodles does not change the taste of the soup. In fact, it gave a more 'Al Dente' texture compared to the rice noodles. Oh yes, spaghetti is a cheaper ingredient than other noodles in the UK too : )

TheLoyalFan says: 'Had to force myself to eat slower in order to savour every last yummy bit! Cleaned out my whole bowl'

I agree! I ate mine really slow and enjoying every bit of the soup. And after cooking this method, I think I can cook Assam Laksa anytime that I want or have cravings for it. It is so easy and the ingredients are easily available in supermarkets.

Pork Curry Noodles

Curry. Malaysian's all time favorite dish. Ahh, yes and now the Brits too! I think their favorite is Tikka Masala which I haven't had a chance to try it yet... but soon I will try : )

Anyways, I think curry can be either easy or tricky to prepare. The easy version - just get instant curry paste. It's foolproof and definitely taste good. The tricky version - fry your own curry powder. I've tried this once and I burnt the powder because TheLoyalFan had told me to fry the powder until the oil 'seeps' out of the powder, which it didn't happened at all and the powder became black and burnt : (

This time, we've decided to give it another go although we do have the curry paste. And, we're trying to finish our ingredients here before our rental ends in September...

Let the Curry cooking begins!

First, fry up some ginger and onions with a generous amount of oil. Perhaps double the portion of your usual meat frying oil volume. Then, pour in some curry powder. If you want more spicy, you can add in some chilli (fresh / dried ones) or chilli powder. Give it a good sitr fry for about 1 minute and pour in your meat. I use pork today because... there is only pork in my fridge. LOL!

While frying the pork and the curry mixture, you may need to add some water to prevent your curry from getting burnt. Add a little bit of water to make the paste more 'smooth' rather than lumpy during the frying. Then add more water. This will depends on how thick you want your gravy. More water will dilute the gravy and the spiciness. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes or until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Season the curry with salt and pepper to ensure there is enough taste. Add in some milk / coconut milk / yogurt (either one will be fine) into your curry, give it a good stir and serve!

This is the usual method for our curry cooking - simple and simply delicious!

As you are simmering away your curry, it is nice to have some carbs to compliment them. We've had spaghetti for this and we've fried a dish of celery for a balance meal ^_^ Bon appétit! 

I'm glad that this time I didn't burn the curry powder. Thanks to my mother-in-law's advise when she was here. However, I OD-ed the curry powder a little and we were having watery nose and a glass of milk for me to reduce the spiciness : P We concluded that 3 tablespoons of curry powder would do the trick for a 2 persons' curry. Also, if you wish to make extra portion for your next meal, it is better to use milk than coconut milk. Apart from that, it was really, really, really good and satisfying!

TheLoyalFan says: 'As close as we can get to Curry Mee lah! Hehe...'

Om nom nom noms... Curry dish checked and on to the next dish!

Aglio Olio

This is one of our favourite dishes that we have ever made and it is always a delight for us! (Plus, it gives us another way to use our dried chillis)

First, cincang the garlic and dried chillis. Today I have the privilege to 'officiate' the Chopper and I must say, it chops everything really, really fine! Way better than my usual knife. (Thanks, SZ!)
If you are not in the mood of cincang-ing the dried chillis, I'm sure there's chilli flakes available from the supermarket (or Domino's Pizza...hehe). Heat up the oil in the pan, and be alittle generous with the oil as it will help your toss later.
Once the oil is hot, put in the chillis and garlic. Let them sizzle in the hot oil for about 30 seconds or until it is golden brown. Remove the pan from direct heat and pour in the drained spaghetti. Give it a good toss with some utensils and it is done!

We also made some omelettes to compliment our spaghetti too! Since Gong Xi Gong Xi is just around the corner, we've added some lap cheong in it...yum yum yums! The capsicums? Hehehe, we like to eat them raw and so happen we have some extras in our fridge : )

TheLoyalFan says: 'Simple and satisfying *rubs tummy*'

And I second that too!

I am looking forward to next week because... it is Chinese New Year! I can't wait to try out new recipes... yay!!!

Have a wonderful Chinese New Year and please remember us when you eat all those CNY goodies such as  Lou Sang, Pineapple Tarts, Kuih Kapits and many many more!

Minestrone Soup

I have always wanted to cook up this dish as it is always sold either in tinned version or at fancy restaurants. After looking at the recipe a couple of days back, I thought of giving it a go!

First, prepare vegetable stock in a pot and pour tinned chopped tomatoes and bring to boil. Then, put in spaghetti that has been broken into shorter lengths and let it simmer for a while. Lastly, pour in frozen mixed vegetables, pesto and season it with salt, sugar and pepper - DONE!
Basically, this dish is like a super simple equation:

Minestrone Soup = (Stock + chopped Tomatoes) + Veggies + Spaghetti

*felt abit like a mad scientist... hence, the urge of writing this equation : P*

Garnish the soup with a bit of grated cheese and it is ready to serve.

There were some modifications done for this dish. Well, it was partly my fault because I was having so much fun with the 'agak agak' measurements; I accidentally prepared too much water for the soup and had to add more veggies and spaghetti. Then I didn't have vegetable stock so I used chicken stock instead. According to the recipe, pesto was supposed to add onto the soup as a garnish but I ended up boiling together.
The outcome of the dinner? Well, an ultra contented pair which had 3 servings each and a bowl saved up for my lunch tomorrow... yummy!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Warms your body and makes you all fonzi & fuzzy... and sleepy too (snuggles under the duvet)'

Alrightie folks, I think I need to go to the toilet now : S

Have a great week ahead guys!

Spaghetti Puttanesca

Time to tryout a new recipe... yippie!

I did alittle research on the Internet to find some spaghetti recipe since we're changing our diet to suit our budget. Hehehe. Apparently, this dish is a classic Italian dish and it is really easy to cook it up as well.

Ingredients are as below... just slice up everything and I am good to start!

First, I put some oil into the pan and fried the garlic, anchovies, chilli flakes and the olives. We did some modifications to the recipe. According to the recipe, I was supposed to add in capers but I didn't because we didn't have any and rarely use them for our cooking so I used black & white peppers instead. However, the black pepper that we've got was not strong enough, so needed to add our Sarawakian white peppers. (Malaysia Boleh!!!)
Then, I poured in the plum tomatoes and cut them up into smaller pieces with my spatula. Mix them up well, season it with salt and a little bit of sugar because it was quite sour and put in the drained spaghetti and toss them up. Grate some cheese on it before serving.

Spaghetti Puttanesca - DONE!

There were some 'new' things for me in this dish that I have not tried or liked it. First, it was olives. I don't really like olives because of my past experience with black olives that were in a salad I had back home. Secondly, there was anchovies - fresh anchovies (not the ikan bilis that we can easily obtained back home). I know not alot of people liked it due to its strong fishy smell, but to my surprise, I quite liked it. Although the smell can really put one off to try it, it actually helps to bring the 'aroma' out from the dish.
As for the olives, I think I am starting to like it... I will be having more olives in my future dishes. But for now, I shall stick the green ones first : )

The overall taste of this was really nice and refreshing. It is a little spicy due to the chilli flakes and peppers. Furthermore, it is quite cheap in terms of cost of the ingredients... definitely will be part of our 'usual' dinner dishes.


TheLoyalFan says: 'Taste like 'ching-er' version of Bolognese... yummy without feeling guilty'

Something I've learnt from my French classes last year... j'aime faire la cuisine... Till then, keep nomming!