Ingredients:

1 packet of flat rice noodles

2 pce of garlic finely chopped

1 big red onion finely sliced

2 red or green chillies roundly sliced

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp roasted peanuts coarsly grinded

1 cupful of beansprouts washed

3 stalks of spring onions sliced lengthwise

1lb of shrimps or diced chicken

3 tbsp of curry paste

2-3 tbsp of cooking oil

salt & white pepper for seasoning

Preparation:

Cook the flat noodles in boiling water until it’s soften.

Then drain the noodles and put aside. Pour the cooking oil in a wok and slightly brown the chopped garlic & sliced onions. Add the shrimps or the diced chicken and stir fry until it has slightly changed colour, pink for the shrimps and translucent for the chicken. Add a pinch of salt and then mix in the curry paste and continue to stir fry until the meat is cooked. Slowly add the drained noodles,chillies,beansprouts,roasted peanuts and spring onions to the curried mixture. While stir frying all the ingredients, add in the light soya sauce and white pepper. Continue to cook for 5 minutes and it’s ready to serve. Mmm…Hot & Spicy!! You can also use leftover curry for this dish.

(p.s. You can reduce the spicyness by opting out the chillies and adding only 1 tbsp of the curry paste.)

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 pieces chicken breast

2 pieces garlic

1 small piece ginger

1 big onion

1 whole green chilli

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tbsp tumeric powder (yellow)

1tsp chilli powder (optional)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

A sprig of curry leaves

3-4 tbsp vegetable oil

Coriander leaves for garnishing

4 tbsp of boiled water (optional)

METHOD:

Finely chop the garlic, ginger, onion and green chilli.

Cut the chicken breast into bitesize pieces.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan.

Saute the chopped ingredients till lightly browned.

Then add the curry,tumeric and chilli powders into the sauted mixture.

Stir fry the chicken pieces, coating well in the spiced mixture on a gentle heat.

Add on the salt,ground black pepper and curry leaves.

If the chicken curry is too dry, add 4 tbsp of boiled water,

otherwise, just cover with a lid and let it simmer for about 1/2 hour.

After that lift the lid and stir gently the chicken curry till its cooked completely.

Taste for spicyness and seasonings.

Garnish with corinder leaves.

This recipe is very simple, easy and quick to cook and very delicious… with boiled rice or bread!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium red onion

3 ripe tomatoes                                                    

2 red chillies

1 garlic

3-4 tbsp olive oil                                         

1 tsp salt                                                   

2 tsp sugar 

PREPARATION:

Roughly cut the red onion.

Cut the tomatoes in quarters.

Slit open & deseed the red chillies.

Coarsly chop the garlic.

Heat oil in a pan and saute all the cut ingredients

for about 2-3 minutes.

Turn off the heat and put all the sauted ingredients

in a food proccessor and blend it until the texture is finely

pureed and smooth.

Then simmer the pureed chutney in the same pan,

adding the salt and sugar on a slow heat,

uptil it starts to bubble a little.

Stir the mixture and remove from heat to cool.

This Chutney taste very yummy…. with any meat,fish and vegetarian dishes.

• INGREDIENTS:
• 2 avacados- slightly soft to the touch
• 7 pitted green olives                                               
• 1 small shallot
• 2 green chillies
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to taste

METHOD:

Cut the avacados into halves and discard the cores.

Scoop the avacado flesh.

Peel the shallot & roughly chopped.

Slit open the green chillies .

Roughly chopp the olives.

Mix all the ingredients with salt, lemon juice & olive oil

in a blender or food proccessor until the texture is pureed

very finely and smooth.

Taste for seasoning…. salt, lemon juice & olive oil

and add more to preffered taste.

This dip taste heavenly with bread sticks or nachos! Mmmmm….

Ingredients
1 lb (450g) mud crabs or soft shelled crabs
4 tbsp plain flour if using soft shelled crabs
3 tbsp vegetable oil*
8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
8 fresh red chilli, roughly chopped
1 egg
2 spring onions (scallions), cut into finger length
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
1 small bunch coriander plant (cilantro)
*For soft-shelled crabs, oil for deep frying

Mix together for Sauce
1 cup of water, 5 tbsp tomato catsup, 1 1/2 to 3 tbsp sugar, or according to taste, 1 1/2 tsp cornflour, 1 tsp pounded brown preserved soya beans or dark miso (optional), 1/4 tsp saltMethod
Heat the oil in a wok or shallow saucepan over high heat. Add garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the chilli, stir-fry till fragrant. For mud crabs, add at this stage. Fry well till shells start turning red, add sauce ingredients stir well, cover with lid and simmer till shells are red. Break eggs into the wok and streak with a fork, simmer till cooked. Squeeze lime juice over and stir in scallions. For soft-shelled crabs, cut each crab into four, dry well, dredge in flour and deep fry till golden brown and crispy. Make the sauce as above, but omit the mud crabs. Toss soft shelled crabs in sauce just before serving.

By Thangha

This unofficial ‘national dish’ is usually prepared with fresh succulent crabs in a hearty, sweet and spicy gravy and is best eaten with your fingers! Mop up the mouth-watering gravy with white bread or Chinese mantou (buns).

LAKSA

Ingredients
500g (1 lb) medium prawns
2 cups shallots, peeled
20 dried chillis, softened in hot water
1 tbs belacan (shrimp paste)
3 tbs dried shrimp, soaked for a while in water to soften
10 buah keras (candlenuts)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbs roasted coriander powder
2 stalks lemon grass, white stem portion, crushed
4 tbs oil
4 cups coconut milk
2 tbs salt
1 tbs sugar
Pepper
500g (1 lb) dried thick rice noodles
300g (approx 9 oz) bean sprouts, scalded
200g (7 oz) dried glass noodles, scalded and drained

Garnishes
4 fresh red chillis, pounded
Salt to taste
1 cucumber, peeled, cored and shredded
4 fried fishcakes, sliced
1 bunch daun kesom (laksa leaves), finely shredded
100g (approx 3 oz) see hum (fresh cockles), optional

Method
Boil a pot of water and cook prawns till they turn pink. Remove, shell prawns when cool and reserve prawns and stock. Process shallots, chillis, belacan, dried shrimp and buah keras in a chopper till fine. Add powdered spices to the paste.

Heat oil in a pot large enough for the gravy. Brown spice paste and add lemon grass stalks, adding a little water from time to time to prevent burning, until oil rises to the surface. Add prawn stock, followed by coconut milk, stirring all the time to prevent curdling till it comes to the boil. Season with salt, sugar and pepper to taste.

Boil some water in another pot and boil dried noodles till al dente. Drain and divide noodles among bowls. Top with a little softened glass noodles and bean sprouts.

Garnish with a prawn, fishcake slices, shredded cucumber and daun kesom. Pour over hot coconut gravy and serve with a dollop of pounded chilli mixed with a pinch of salt.

Fast Tiramisu Tartlets

Tiramisu is an Italian treat that means ‘pick me up’, so no prizes for guessing you need coffee to make this simple sensational recipe. These tartlets do not require refrigeration - you can serve them immediately.
INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons of mascarpone

1 tablespoon of sifted icing sugar

4 amaretti biscuits

2 shots of strong black coffee

small pastry shells

PREPARATION:

Put 4 tablespoons of mascarpone in a medium mixing bowl, add 1 tablespoon of sifted icing sugar and stir to combine. Crumble 4 amaretti biscuits into a small bowl and drizzle with 2 shots of strong black coffee. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes then add to the mascarpone mixture with 2 tablespoons of finely grated dark chocolate. Stir until just combined, to make a marbled cream. Spoon the mixture into small pastry shells and sprinkle with a little extra grated or drinking chocolate.

Simple Mutton Curry ( Indian Style Lamb Curry )

Posting a very simple mutton curry …

Marinate 1/2 kg (500 gms) of mutton (lamb) in 1 cup curd,1 tbsp ginger garlic paste,2 tsps coriander pwd,1/4 tsp garam masala pwd,1/4 tsp turmeric pwd,1 tsp red chilli pwd,1/2 tsp jeera pwd(cumin pwd)and salt for half an hour.
Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a cooking dish and add whole garam masala [3 green cardamoms,6 cloves,1″ dalchini (cinnamon sticks)] and let them fry for 5 seconds.
Now add 1 cup of sliced onions and 3 slit green chillis and fry till transparent.
Now add the mutton marinade and mix well.Let it cook in its own water on medium heat till oil seperates.
Now add 2 cups of water,cover and cook the mutton till soft on slow fire.
Add a pinch of nutmeg pwd(called jaaji kaaya podi in telugu) before you turn off the heat.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and your mutton curry is ready to serve with hot rice or rotis.

This is a very simple and easy mutton curry that I often make.A typical andhra style mutton curry and tastes good…

What I love about this recipe, other than the ingredients (smoked salmon, pine nuts, yum!) is that it can be pulled together so quickly and it’s not particularly heavy, as so many cream sauce pastas can be. There’s also room for maneuvering; add more or less wine or cream to taste; leave out the pine nuts if you can’t be bothered; add some asparagus or cream cheese if you want; use smoked trout or sturgeon instead of the salmon. The essentials are smoked fish, lemon, garlic, and pasta with some olive oil, wine, and or cream binding them together.

• 8 ounces spaghetti (or other) pasta
• Salt
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup chopped shallots (can substitute onions)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup dry white wine (can substitute pasta cooking water with a Tbsp of lemon juice)
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp lemon zest (divided into 1 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley or dill
• 4 ounces smoked salmon, cut into bite sized pieces
• Fresh ground black pepper

1 Heat to boiling a large pot with at least 4 quarts of water in it. While the water is heating, brown the pine nuts. Put the pine nuts in a single layer in a large skillet. Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and lightly browned. Remove pine nuts from pan and set aside.

2 Once the water is boiling, salt it with 1 Tbsp of salt for every 4 quarts of water. Once the water returns to a boil add the pasta to the pot. Leave uncovered, on high heat and let cook with a vigorous boil. Put the timer on for 8-10 minutes, or whatever your pasta package says is appropriate for al dente (cooked but still a little firm).

3 While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. In a large skillet heat olive oil on medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic, cook for 2 minutes, then add white wine, lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp of lemon zest. Increase the heat and let boil down by half. If you want a slightly creamy sauce, add the cream and let boil a minute more.

The sauce should be done about the same time the pasta is done. If you get done earlier with it than the pasta, take it off the heat.

4 Once the pasta is done, and before draining the pasta, scoop out one cup of the pasta cooking liquid and reserve. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the sauce. Add back some of the pasta cooking liquid to the pasta if it is a little dry. Add the smoked salmon, toasted pine nuts, parsley, and the remaining lemon zest. Season with freshly ground black pepper.