Fusilli with Peas and Prawns in Easy Peasy Homemade Tomato Sauce

Lately I have been reading lots of Facebook posts from Viralnova and Buzzfeed. Some of them are simply irritating and clearly a vehicle for ads, but once you've sieved through the garbage, there are some pretty useful tips. Like the one about the 30 foods that you will never have to buy again. I actually have 4 cans of peanuts to be ground into peanut butter, cans of chickpeas for hummus and of course, stacks of canned Italian tomatoes that are waiting to be transformed to pasta sauce. Because pasta sauce is one of the things that will never ever have to be bought again. And it is really a simple, foolproof recipe that never goes wrong. Like, never. Ok I've made this recipe about 5 times now since reading the post and the recipe and it's actually the best tasting tomata pasta sauce I had. And all with only a few ingredients that I have in the fridge. I may sound like I'm raving, but don't diss it til you try it. And if you are too lazy to look for the links, here is my version of the easy peasy homemade tomato sauce recipe.


Ingredients for basic tomato sauce (serves 3-4 pasta portions)

• A can of tomatoes in tomato juice (preferably Italian)
• Half a can of water, swirled around to get all the tomatoes out
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped (or more if you prefer)
• Salt
• Pepper
• A tablespoon of balsamic vinegar,
• A teaspoon of sugar (to cut the acidity)

Question : Now what do we do with all these ingredients?

Answer : Why just dump them in a pot and let them bubble bubble toil and trouble of course. And leave them alone for about 30 minutes or until the sauce has thickened to the tomato sauce in a jar consistency. Feel free to add seasoning to balance the acidity and the taste.

Now that you've mastered the quintessential art of making tomato sauce for pasta from scratch, feel free to add other ingredients for variety. My favourite add-ons are fresh parmesan gratings, creme fraiche and dried Italian herbs. Goes well with most pasta dishes. I've also added dried pepperoni (that's chilli to most of us), olives, fresh basil...the list is endless, you get what I mean? And it's so easy (and a lot cheaper) that I am most certainly never going back to bottled or canned ones.

For this version with fusilli, I added about 30 grams of grated parmesan, 1 tablespoon of creme fraiche and let them simmer together with a handful of peas and prawns.

Then all I had to do while the sauce simmers is to boil the pasta to al dente, save about 3 tablespoons of the pasta water, drain the pasta and mix the sauce in together with the reserved pasta water. And voila! Yummy pasta. Congrats, you have done well :-)

Now pour yourself a glass of your favourite drink, set out the green salad and enjoy your meal!

Oven Braised Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

I went native today. So it's not your fault if you don't recognise what this is - Kohlroulade mit Hackfleisch Füllung und Kartoffelpuree or simply Rolled Cabbage Leaves stuffed with minced meat and served with mashed potatoes. Tastes better than it sounds.. The inspiration came from a shopping mall. I was walking past a shopping mall in Heidelberg, this one known as Galeria Kaufhof, and they have a restaurant on the top floor of the 5 storey building. Quite a nice view from up there serving pastas, salads and soups and other German and European dishes with a corner selling cakes and pastries with coffee. You take what you want, you bring your dish of choice to the cashier and you pay.  Afternoons are really full with the working crowd so that was why I chose to duck the crowds and instead go home and recreate the daily special. And being me, I'm sure I added more herbs and spices than usual. But I am also sure it tasted better! For me at least. So if you want a taste of Germany, Andriana style, and in half an hour, here is the recipe.


Ingredients (for 8 rolls)

For the Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

8 large cabbage leaves
300g minced beef or chicken
Dashes of garlic powder,
Rosemary powder
Black pepper,
Paprika powder,
Salt
1 small egg, beaten
1 teaspoon of flour

For the sauce

150ml apple juice
100ml water
2 teaspoons (more or less) of Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Squirt of tomato paste

I started off with making the sauce first. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and put aside.  It should taste tangy sweet.

Prepare the cabbage leaves by first boiling them briefly in hot water (just enough to submerge) with about 1 tablespoon of sugar to make them both more pliable and palatable. Remove when soft enough, drain and set aside.

Add all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix them thoroughly. That's it, don't  be squeamish, scrunch it up with your hands!

When the cabbage leaves are sufficiently cool, place one flat on your cutting board. Take a chunk of minced meat filling. roll up into a sausage and place it in the middle of the cabbage leaf.  Fold the leaf in left and right, then fold the bottom upwards making sure that the minced meat sausage fits snugly like a bolster. Then roll the leaf up and either tie up the ends or if you can't be bothered like me, just place it in a casserole dish, folded side down. Do the same for the rest and make sure they all fit in snugly together in the dish to prevent unfolding. Make sure you add oil to the casserole dish beforehand to prevent sticking.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees until they have brown edges and the meat filling juices run clear (about 20 mins). At this point, I add the sauce and bake further until the sauce is reduced to about the height of the cabbage rolls.

Remove and serve on warm plates together with mashed potatoes and perhaps some steamed vegetables if you are so inclined.

Guten Appetit!

Karaage Chicken

Continuing with our Japanese theme (happens for a few days every month coz we love love love Japanese food), this time it is Karaage Chicken, which is basically small pieces of chicken marinated in soy sauce and spices and fried in a batter. This is wonderful served with hot rice, miso soup and salad and is always welcomed by my kids, especially when served like this :

Do you see a smiley face?

But my plate looked like this :

(I really should invest in Japanese style bowls eh?)


Karaage Marinade Ingredients:

1 teaspoon garlic powder/grated garlic
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder/grated ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons Japanese soya sauce
Salt
White pepper

400g chicken thigh fillets or chicken breast meat, skinned, cut into little squarish pieces

Put all ingredients in a plastic bag or a tuppaware and give everything a good rub and shake. Or use the usual method of putting everything in a bowl and mix everything together with your hands or with a spoon. Set aside for at least 1/2 hour but I do it overnight.

For the batter

1/2 an egg
2 tablespoons cornflour
4 heaped tablespoons all purpose flour
generous sprinkle of pepper and a little salt

Oil for deep frying

Ready? Set. Go!

When ready to fry, put all this batter ingredients (except the oil of course) into the plastic bag/tuppaware/bowl and give everything another good mix, making sure every piece of chicken is coated. No mess, no fuss, you fingers don't even have to touch them! 

You do not need a deep fryer, just a highish-rimmed pan (to prevent excessive spritzing) and some oil.

Fry the chicken pieces a few at a time, making sure that the oil is hot enough (you will hear the sizzle when the chicken pieces hit the pan). Do not fit too much or they will not crisp up. Turn if necessary and fry for about 3 minutes until nice and brown. Drain and serve hot on rice.

Oishii!

Okonomiyaki fritter-pancake-pizza

What is that? That, my friends, is my attempt at the 'Japanese Pizza' or japanese-ly known as Okonomiyaki. Japanese food being super expensive here and since Okonomiyaki is nowhere to be seen, I am therefore forced to learn Japanese cooking if I were to satiate my Japanese food cravings without breaking the bank. Japanese ingredients are available here at my beloved Tiger and Dragon Asia Supermarket. We go there every month and spend about 200 euros on Asian things like lemongrass and tumeric, tofu and prata (both from Tuas, Singapore mind you!) as well as the quintessential Dashi, Jap rice, bonito flakes and various other Japanese seasonings that previously did not catch my attention when shopping at Takashimaya, Singapore. Nowadays, we also go there for durians, but I digress. This post is about Okonomiyaki and how easy it is to make and how much I (and the children) love it. And I hide vegetables in them so the don't know that it is good for them too hur hur. Ok and now to the recipe, that is adapted from various Internet websites. There are so many out there, ranging from the Americanised version that did not add Dashi (and yet dare to call itself Japanese vegetable pancake) and others that are such purist versions that i don't know half the ingredients they call for (what is Koji and where can I get it?)

Anyway, here it is.

Ingredients (serves 4 for dinner)

The batter :

• Half a small cabbage (anymore and the gas is your own doing!)
• 1 carrot (not usually added, but this is my way of making sure that my kids get their beta carotenes)
• 2 cups flour (I used plain all purpose flour, self-raising is also possible)
• 2 1/3 cups water
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons dashi powder (or can be replace by chicken stock powder, but it ain't Japanese no more!)
•  About 200g shelled, uncooked prawns 

Shred the vegetables, by cutting finely by hand or using the food processor. Then in a bowl, add in the flour and 4 eggs, water and dashi powder and mix them using a mixer. Finally fold in the vegetables and there you have it, the batter is ready to go.




Heat oil in a frying pan. When hot, add batter to make a circle of whatever size you want. I made mine about the size of the pan. Let it cook until the bottom is crisp (about 3-5  mins). While waiting, add the prawns to the batter. Then flip and let the batter with the prawn side cook until crisp (another 3 mins).

For the Topping

• Okonomiyaki sauce or Tonkatsu sauce (store bought) 
• 1 to 2 spring onions sliced thinly 
• Japanese Mayonaise
• Bonito flakes 

Then add the toppings as generally as you want. I lacked Bonita flakes in the picture coz I ran out of them before remembering that I had to take a picture. I told my kids (who love pizza) that Japanese Pizza is ready and it was nice seeing them eating eagerly :-) Little did they know, there were eating cabbage and carrots too!

(I had some leftover batter and for breakfast the next day, I added chicken ham and Gouda cheese that I had in the fridge. Equally delicious and a great breakfast too! And reminded me somehow of Tako pachi balls. Hmm that would be my next project it seems!)

Mission accomplished.

Seafood noodle soup for the soul aka Mi Soup

The problem with writing a blog about cooking with 2 toddlers is sometimes the 2 toddlers take up most of your (my) time that cannot write it! Luckily it is just a hobby though. And baking cookies and cakes for the festive season, though a pleasurable past time and certainly a pleasurable deed when eating them, does lead to a somewhat thicker waistline that creeps on you (that is, me). But unlike some people who start the year with a resolution to eat less, or to exercise more, I simply do not bother. I did read a book, however, titled 'French woman for all seasons' in which the writer espouses the French woman's way of eating light after eating well, heavy stuff. And being basically Asian and familiar with a yin-yang approach to life, as well the tendency to eat soupy things when the weather gets cold and rainy in Singapore, I found myself craving for one of my childhood favourites that has the ability to satisfy all the senses in one slurp.

I suppose this is a Malay take on a Chinese noodle soup dish. The broth is a flu-chasing tonic of pounded onions, garlic and ginger,  enriched with chicken (or vegetable) stock. Add to it the slippery rice noodles, plump fishballs or prawns and top it all with spinach, fresh coriander and spring onions as well as the pre-requisite crunchy fried onions and fresh chilli pickle. The result is an explosion of tastes and sensations on your tongue that is comforting and delicious at the same time. And you just know that it is good for you. Just writing and thinking about is making me hungry! Actually, I do think I'm ma get a bowl of this 'Mi Soup' as a reward for finishing this blog myself.

Seafood Noodle Soup aka Mi Soup (serves 2 adults and 2 kids)

The Noodle Broth.

1 white onion
2 cloves garlic
1 inch length of ginger root
Vegetable oil for whizzing and frying
1 litre (more or less) of chicken or vegetable stock (or Ikan Bilis stock cube, if you wanna go native)

1 cinammon stick, bruised
2 star anise
3 cardamom pods, bashed to break them up slightly
Pinches of salt
Dashes of white pepper

1/2 packet of rice noodles (the thin kind)


As much prawns and fishballs as you want
As much spinach as you can stand (or other green leafy vegetables)

Ready? Set. Go!

Pound the first 3 ingredients using a pestle and mortar or, if you are feeling modern, place them in a food processor with some water and vegetable oil and whizz until pureed.

Fry the spice paste with about 1 tablespoon of oil and the cinammon stick, star anise and cardamom pods until fragrant (about 1 minute depending on the heat). Then add the stock and stir. Adjust for seasoning with salt and white pepper. Then add the fishballs and prawns. When everything is cooked and tastes good, add the spinach, cover the pot and turn off the heat. Easy peasy.

In the meantime, soften the rice noodles according to packet instructions. Once soft, drain and set aside.

As Topping

Coriander leaves
Fried onions
Fresh cut chilli
Salty soya sauce
Sweet soya sauce
Tomato Ketchup
Rice Vinegar

Are you ready to eat?

Now what I do, is first put some noodles into the bowl, pour some broth over it and add all the toppings. Mix to taste, bring to table with your chosen implements for eating and enjoy slurping while the cold goes on outside. Mmm happiness.

Chocolate cake with chocolate outside, chocolate inside and more chocolate in between

Pardon me, but the pictures do not do this chocolate cake any justice. Allow me to describe how it really is - it is a bed of chocolate sponginess for a creamy chocolate spread doused in chocolate icing. So yes, it has a lot of chocolate. And sugar and butter and all those mood-enhancing things. But the best part is, you need only to eat one slice, just ONE to get all the mood-enhancing benefits. And when it is dark and grey and drab outside or when one is feeling blah, this cake just lifts you. And contrary to the all the butter and sugar, this cake is a life-saver - it has saved me more than once from the depressing winter blues.

The recipe is taken off Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake but I went freestyle on the icing. And although she called for 30% fat content sour cream, I took a leap of faith and used 10% Greek Yoghurt, just because that was all I had in the fridge. And it is a perfect substitute! So not only is this cake a mood-enhancing life-saver, now it is also good for you! (As if I need another reason to eat chocolate cake!)

So here it is folks, my version of Chocolate Cake with chocolate outside, chocolate inside and more chocolate in between.

My kids requested candles as decoration and blew them out ..oh about 20 times before we got to eat the cake!

 For the cake 

• 200 grams plain flour
• 200 grams caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 40 grams best-quality cocoa powder
• 175 grams soft unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 150 ml Greek Yoghurt (the thick kind) or Sour Cream

The Super Easy Method :  

• Put everything in a food processor and let it run for a few minutes until everything is mixed well into a brown batter. It should be of a thick consistency.

• Pour everything into a pan and slide into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for about 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean and the cake is spongy.  

The Usual Mixer Method.

• Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl

• In another bowl, beat the soft butter (at room temperature) until you have a creamy mixture. Then add in the flour mixture.

• In yet another bowl, whisk the cocoa, greek yoghurt or sour cream, vanilla and eggs together and beat this into your bowl of flour and butter mixture.

• Pour everything into a pan and slide into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for about 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean and the cake is spongy.

For the Icing

• 50 grams unsalted butter
• 125 grams 70% dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)
• 150 grams icing sugar
• 125 ml Greek Yoghurt or sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the butter and chocolate in a microwave. I microwave for 1 minute, stir to melt all the clumps and microwave for another minute or less until I get a smooth chocolate syrup that I cannot resist dipping a spoon into (and licking it clean)

In the meantime, blitz your icing sugar in the food processor to get rid of all the lumps. Or you can just sift it.

Finally, add all ingredients into the food processor and whizz away until you get a sticky decadent, chocolate cream. Or add everything into a bowl and mix away using a mixer or, an old fashioned hand-whisk.

Cool it off in a fridge (or outside on the balcony on winter day- to let winter know that your mood reinforcements are coming!)

The you are ready to spread it on the cake.

The Assembly


Let the cake cool and then cut into 2 halves, top and bottom. Make a chocolate cake sandwich with icing in the middle and then spread more chocolate icing generously all around. Decorate as you see fit. Or not as a chocolate cake is a gorgeous sight in itself. Cut yourself a big piece and enjoy with your cuppa! Mmmmm...

Tuna and grilled vegetables tart

It is Christmas market time again and the delicious smells are wafting the air. I think that is the best part, together with the glittering lights. If you are not familiar with Christmas markets in Germany, it is when the market squares are filled with stands selling food to eat and things to buy. And a skating rink or two if you are lucky. And talking about food, the air is constantly filled with delicious, and I mean delicious smells of food that somehow seems even more mouth-watering when smelt in the cold 0 degree air - sausages frying on a wood fire grill, soups in large pots, waffles baking in open ovens, various cinnamon and vanilla-filled treats topped with cherry jam and whipped cream, hot fruit punches punctuating the air with scents of orange and grapes -  the list goes on and on and I will add a few pics of the Heidelberg Christmas market in the upcoming posts, but right now, I just want to encourage your imagination (since nobody seems to do that anymore in this day and age of instant gratification!)

And one of the yummy treats that I like to eat at the Christmas market is called the Flammkuchen , which is kinda like a thin-crust pizza topped with creme fraiche and various toppings like the original of ham and onions, or my favourite of smoked salmon and roasted leek and another of grilled vegetable and feta cheese. But the problem of eating a Flammkuchen for me is, that I usually get bored after the 4th slice and then I will stop eating it, after which I will be hungry again an hour later since I basically have eaten 4 very thin slices of dough with a scant topping. So I have made this homage to the Flammkuchen using a thicker (puff) pastry and having more toppings. Once you have tried this version, feel free to substitute the vegetables and remember to spread the word coz everyone should know how to make something this delicious and easy!


For the topping :

1 small zucchini sliced thinly
1 small red capsicum/bell pepper in thin strips
A handful of chopped olives
2 cans of dolphin-friendly tuna in water or sunflower oil mixed with
As much mayonnaise as you want to drench your tuna in (I used 5 tablespoons!)
A sprinkling of grated parmesan


For the base :

The easy way - Use one pack of ready rolled puff pastry from the supermarket. This is the time to pat yourself on the back for being so clever.
 

Ready, set and roll out the dough!

Spread the tuna mayonnaise evenly over the dough. Arrange the zucchini, capsicum over it and artfully (or not) strew the olive pieces over everything. Take a step back and admire your edible painting. Then put in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the sides are nicely golden brown and the vegetables grilled. Take it out of the oven and sprinkle the grated parmesan and watch it melt deliciously over everything. Slice and serve with more salad if you want, or roll the slice and tell your children these are edible fingers. Crunch and munch and let it be known how easy deliciousness can be :-)