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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Spaghetti

This is actually one of the most easiest recipes to try on. And in my opinion, it easy to cook since during Raya there are so many people serving spaghetti instead of rendang nowadays.
So, the ingredients are:

1. 6 diced onions
2. 1 can of tomato puree
3. 2 packets of minced meat
4. 4 tablespoon of olive oil
5. Half a bottle of chili sauce (the smaller bottle ya)
6. Half a bottle of tomato ketchup (also the smaller bottle)
7. 1 can of sliced button mushrooms
8. Salt (as much as your heart desires)
9. Pepper (also as much as you want)
10. Cheese (usually a packet will do but if you want it to be more cheesy, then by all means, it's your cooking)
11. 2 packets of spaghetti (vermicili or fettucine) itself

Got your ingredients ready? Let's start cooking then!

Firstly, warm your pot on the stove for a minute or so, then put in the olive oil (I sometimes substitute olive oil with butter coz butter smells tastier). Then put in your onions and let them turn brown a bit. After the smell of nicely cooked onions have wafted into the air (be careful not to burn them, if they've turned black that means that it's burnt), then put in your minced meant. Make sure the meat have cooked nicely and evenly, then put in the tomato puree, followed by chili sauce and tomato ketchup. The reason for chili sauce it coz I like my spaghetti to be a wee bit spicy and sweet. Then add in the mushrooms and stir them all to blend all the ingredients together.

In the mean time, boil a pot of water until you can see the water bubbling (that basically means that it's at boiling temperature) and put in your spaghetti. To avoid the spaghetti to clump to each other, add in a few spoonful of cooking oil into the pot. The oil will help the spaghetti to soften separately instead of sticking together. After the spaghetti noodles has gone limp & soft (make sure it is cooked thoroughly) then take then out of the water and let them dry for a bit in a serving bowl.

After your spaghetti sauce has simmered nicely, you can either choose to add in cheese together in the sauce (to avoid kids from fighting over who gets more cheese) or you can choose to grate the cheese and let everyone have as many or as little cheese as they want later on.
Voila! Your lunch is served *grin*

Hope you like it!

xoxo Fashionista in Action xoxo

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Beef Pie

This is a very simple dish but very delish! I've had some comments liking the dish so much that they wanted me to cook it whenever I have friends over for dinner or lunch. So, here goes...


Ingredients:
4 onions
2 packets of mince meat
1 tblspoon of oil
2 beef stock cubes
3 carrots
6 potatoes
A pinch of salt and pepper
2 tblspoon of butter
A bit of corn flour

Directions:
First dice the onions. In the mean time de freeze your meat. Meanwhile, boil the carrots and potatoes in a pot. Carrots just only have to be soft and chew-able. For the potatoes, they must be very soft (you are going to mash them later). Add in a pinch of salt and pepper into the boiling water.

Prepare a frying pan (a pot can be used as well). Put in the oil, then fry the onions (in malaysian we call it tumis). After onions, comes the minced meat. Add in the beef stock. Make sure the meat is fully cooked then, add in a pinch of salt and pepper. Finally add in some corn flour to thicken your dish.

For the dish itself, after the meat is cooked, put it in a casserole dish (or whatever that you feel is equivalent). Then add in the carrots. The carrots should be sliced thinly or moderately thin. They are arranged on top of the beef. That means you have a bottom layer of beef and an upper layer of carrots. Finally, spread the mashed potatoes as the topmost layer. Make sure that it is spread evenly. Finally, spread a very thin layer of butter on top and heat the dish to make sure that the butter melts. Heating could be done by using a simple microwave.

Don't forget to add some seasoning, salt & pepper cause potatoes can be quite bland without it. So, make it flavorful with some mixed herbs or italian herbs!



Have eating!


xoxo Fashionista in Action xoxo

Monday, May 4, 2009

Mashed Potatoes

Let's start with the basics. This dish seems to be my favorite whenever I visit the nearest KFC cause it's soooo yummy!

I bet you can't wait to know the recipe right? The ingredients are:

For the mashed potatoes:
1. 300g potatoes
2. 1 tbsp butter
3. Salt & pepper to taste
4. 1 - 2 tbsp plain UHT milk

For the sauce:
1. 600ml chicken stock
2. 1 small stalk celery, chopped finely
3. 1 big onion, chopped finely
4. 1/2 tsp mixed herbs
5. 35g butter
6. 35g flour
7. 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
8. Salt & pepper to taste
9. 1/8 tsp dark soy sauce for coloring

Ready? Let's do this!

For mashed potatoes:
BOIL washed potatoes in a pan of lightly salted water. Cover and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes until tender. Drain well, peel off the skin then mash the potatoes while hot until you get a smooth mash. Beat in butter and enough milk to obtain a soft consistency. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

For the sauce:
PLACE chicken stock in a saucepan together with celery, big onion and mixed herbs. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the stock.
Heat butter and cook the flour over very low heat, stirring constantly until it comes away from the sides of the saucepan. Gradually add in the stock, stirring until smooth.
Stir in the tomato puree and dark soy sauce and bring to a boil.
Simmer for about 50 minutes to thicken the sauce to the desired consistency. Season to taste.

It might seem a bitty hard to make at first but I assure you it's actually quite easy. After a while, I just tend to measure stuff according to either a tablespoonful or teaspoonful. For the sauce I normally add in sliced button mushrooms to add in the mushroom flavor to it.

Happy cooking peeps!

xoxo Fashionista in Action xoxo

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Hullo

Here we are, back in the kitchen none-the-less. Amazingly people don't relate fashionistas and cooking do they? I'm here to prove that myths do come true as I'm going to share my recipes, those that I've tried before and they haven't KILLED ANYONE (so far). 

So gear up your cooking utensils as we are going to go through a culinary adventure that's absolutely SAFE even for those who can't even cook to save their own lives. 

Let's get yummy peeps!

xoxo Fashionista in Action xoxo