Japanese Curry & Rice

Here's something that you cook once, and it'll probably feed you for three days straight (a whole week if you're only cooking for yourself)! Plus, once you throw in veggies, it's pretty much a balanced meal (or at least, I consider it to be), so you only cook one dish to go with your rice =)

Lazy people, being lazy, I bought this gigantic packet of japanese curry. Cooked it on like Monday, and we had enough for lunch and dinner all the way to Wednesday for the two of us! Just need to reheat each time you eat! ^_^

Ingredients

1 Onion - diced

No need for any explanations here

A handful of baby carrots

I get baby carrots because I don't have to chop them! They are small enough that they cook very quickly.







2 handfulls of small potatoes

Same reason as above. I got these from Costco. Only thing I needed to do was to wash them up. If you are more cheapskate, get russet potatoes, skin them, and cut them up into 1.5" cubes.

2 lbs of meat - cubed

I used pork here, but you can essentially use any meat you like. Beef works just as well. I bought these in bulk from Costco, and had cubed them before I froze them up. You can always get ready-cubed meat (usually for stewing). Then you don't have to cut them either! =) Note that my  cubes are probably too big, I was just lazy so I didn't cut them up further. You can cut them into half the size of mine and it will probably work better.

8.4 oz Golden Curry Sauce Mix

This is the large packet. And it doesn't matter which spicy level you choose, just depends on your preference. I used the Hot one, but really, it wasn't spicy at all in my opinion. Next time I'll try Extra Hot.





6 cups of hot water
The instructions on the box will tell you to add water (not hot water). I pre-boiled my water so that I don't have to wait a god-awful amount of time for the water to boil in my pot. It's still fine.


Instructions

1. Dice onions, wash potatoes. Boil water. Cook rice.
2. Heat up oil. Once hot, add onions. Saute until translucent.
3. Add meat. Fry until brown (all of the meat must be cooked on the outside).
4. Add carrots & potatoes
5. Add hot water and bring to a boil.
6. Turn heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
7. Break up the curry mix and add them to the pot. Stir until completely mixed in (this will take a few minutes).
8. Serve!

Japanese curry with rice - カレーライス

Nice leh! Easy leh! These are one of my many 1-dish meals that I make with simple ingredients. No need to hunt high and low for crazy spices and herbs and veggies when you can just buy them ready prepared! =) And no need to make 2 or more dishes to go with your rice since you get meat + veggies all in one dish!

 

Oh, and if you end up having leftover sauce, you can always throw in sausages and brats, and boil carrots and potatoes separately before throwing them in ^_^

Meatball Pasta

Hi everyone!

So here's a dish that I make when I get too lazy to cook, but not lazy enough to just eat ramen. The only thing you need to cut are just the garlic and onions. You can just use onions if you don't have garlic - I just LUURRVV the smell of garlic so I add them to anything I make (plus I have a Costco-sized bag of them). Vampires will definitely run away from me with the amount of garlic I have lol.

Ok, let's start!

This will serve about three portions. You can adjust the amount by increasing or decreasing the amount of pasta sauce you add, and the amount of meatballs you use.

Ingredients

Italian seasoning & black pepper - I don't think you need a picture for this.



7 cloves garlic - sliced

The amount of garlic you want really depends on your preference. If you only want it for the fragrance, you can just use 3 cloves. I like my garlic, so I tend to use a handful of them =)








1/2 Onion - julienned

I know different parts of the world have different sizes for onions. If your onions are small, just julienne them. If they are large (like the ones you get at Walmart), then halve them before you julienne them.







12 Meatballs

I am using chicken meatballs, but you can easily get the swedish meatballs from IKEA - they work great! The only thing you need to do with those is instead of thawing them, take however much you need from the freezer, put them in a bowl and microwave them for about 3 minutes (stir them once at 2 minutes before you microwave the last 1 minute). And just cook them up the same way!

18 oz. Pasta sauce

In guesstimating how much pasta sauce to use, I can tell you that if you buy the 24 oz. glass bottle, that one whole bottle is enough to make four portions. So use 3/4 for three people! If you're wondering why I don't get the giant plastic bottles, I used to. I stopped because once the sauce bottle is opened, it doesn't take long for the sauce to start turning bad, no matter how much care I took to wiping them clean, using clean utensils, etc. So I just opted to these small bottles so that I don't have to worry about them turning bad since I run through them whole bottles at a time =)





1 Egg

This is really up to you if you want to add to your pasta sauce or not. I've always added it to thicken up the sauce, and to reduce the tangy tomato taste. Some people find it weird, but I've always liked it ever since I added it on a whim.

6 oz. Angel hair pasta
(approx. 2" diameter)

I LOVE angel hair pasta because it takes the shortest amount of time to cook and it doesn't expand that much, so you can better estimate how much pasta to cook. Also, I don't believe in getting the pasta measuring plastic thing-a-ma-jig. Just because it's another thing to clutter up my kitchen with. I just agak-agak (estimate). The amount of pasta you eat changes from person to person, so if you know you eat |-----this much-----| then just make that much... x3. Make it once, and you'll know if you've made too much or too little. As a reference, I know that half a bag of the Walmart angel hair package (16 oz package) is enough to make four portions.


Instructions

1. Boil about 1/2 a pot of water (for the pasta).
2. Cut off the tops of the garlic, and slice them up.
3. Julienne the onion.
4. Once water is boiling, add some salt. Then add the angel hair pasta.
5. Turn heat to medium-low so that the water continues to simmer while you cook the pasta. Stir it every minute or two until it's cooked.
6. Heat up oil, then add garlic. Fry till brown.
7. When garlic is brown, add onions and fry until translucent. (Note: Check on the pasta here. If you can't tell if it's cooked, take one out and try. It should be bouncy but not hard on the inside. If it's cooked, run it through cold water, sieve, and dish them on to plates)
8. Add meatballs, pepper & italian seasoning (in that order). Leave to cook, stirring occassionally.
9. Add pasta sauce and stir it in.
10. When pasta sauce starts bubbling, turn the heat to low and add in the egg. Stir it in quickly to make sure it is well-mixed before the egg cooks.
11. Turn heat back up to medium and leave until sauce begins to bubble again.
12. Serve!

You can also add grated cheese on top if you wish. I ran out of cheese, so I didn't lol.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Till next time!

Sausage & Onion Fried Rice

Hi peeps!

Today's dish is perfect when you cooked too much rice the night before, and just want to finish it off because you don't have any other dishes to go with it =P

Ingredients
 

Leftover rice (refrigerated overnight to reduce the moisture in the rice). Mine was slightly over 1 cup uncooked, which resulted to about this much after it has been cooked. You will want to break up the rice before you fry it as this will make it easier for you to mix it in the pan later.





 

1/2 Onion - diced

 

2 Bratwursts (or 4 regular sausages). For those who are wondering, I used Costco's chicken jalapeno and mango brats for this dish.

2 Eggs







Soy Sauce. I prefer Lee Kum Kee's soy sauce over the Kikkoman brand. Yes, there is a difference. Lee Kum Kee's is lighter colored, and has a lighter salty taste to it. Kikkoman is darker, with a fuller taste. It goes well as a complementary sauce to sushi and the likes, but not as good for cooking.

(optional) Spicy Chili Crisp - for that kick! It's also great if your fried rice turns out tasteless =)

Instructions

1. Dice up the onion & slice up the sausages/brats.
2. With the fire on high, pour a generous amount of oil to a large pan and heat it up.
3. Add onions and fry until either translucent or slightly brown (depends on your preference, or how hungry you are).
4. Add in the sausages.
5. Once sausages are cooked, stir in some soy sauce. (Note: I estimate how much soy sauce to pour by how many people I'm cooking for. Two persons mean about two rounds around the pan.)
6. Turn fire to medium, and add in the rice. As mentioned earlier, break up the rice first before you add it in. If the rice is not dry enough, this will make it easier to stir and mix in the pan.
7. Once rice is well mixed, make a hole in the middle of the pan and add in the two eggs.
8. Scramble the eggs and cover up with the rice for about 30 seconds before mixing it all in.
9. Continuously stir to keep rice from sticking to the pan.
10. When eggs are cooked, add some salt to taste and serve!



Add some Spicy Chili Crisp for some kick!

Sausage & Onion Fried Rice: COMPLETE!

Until next time!

Cooking with SEVEN Ingredients or Less

When I say ingredients, I also mean that this list should include sauces, seasonings and spices. In all honesty, I would not expect anyone to have a full range of spices, sauces and seasonings unless you

1. Have been cooking for a LOOONNNG time, and have been accummulating them over time, or
2. You live with your mother

I had initially started with five ingredients or less, and I realize that if I'm going to have sauces and seasonings as part of the ingredients list, most recipes will have more than five. For sure.

BUT!!

There are FIVE things that I would expect anyone to have in their kitchen, even if they have never cooked in their life. They are:

• Salt
• Pepper (black and white)
• Sugar
• Oil
• Water

And these are the five items that I will NOT include in my list of seven ingredients or less.

Agree? Good.

Most of my recipes will feed 2-4 persons. This is because I currently cook for two (my husband and I). With me being lazy, I will cook two portions for dinner, and two more portions for our lunches the next day (that equals four). When I am on my own, I would cook two portions - one for my dinner and one for lunch the next day.

Baked Mediterranean Chicken & Stir-fried Green Beans

Let's start off with something simple. This dish can be eaten just by itself, or you can pair it with white rice for some carbs =)

Ingredients


Salt

I prefer coarse salt over the regular fine granulated salt, just because you can rub them into the meats better without having to buy rock salt just for that purpose.







Ground Black Pepper

You can also get whole black peppercorns and grind them yourself. I'm just lazy.








Mediterranean Herb Mix

These can be picked up at the grocery store in the spices section. If you don't like Mediterranean, then get some other mix. I feel that this mix is a one-fits-all mix mainly because you can use it on any meats or even seafood and it will still taste good. Something like "lemon seasoning" herb mixes would be more fit for fish.

2 handfuls Green beans

I get the ones where they have been washed and the ends have been cut. You know, 'cause I'm lazy. Costco sells them in bulk too, if you ever just wanna hoard them and minimize your trips to the grocery store.

5 cloves Garlic - minced

Yeah, I got the peeled ones. The ready-chopped ones don't give as much flavor.

1 lb (~0.5 kg) Chicken

Ok, so for this one I'm just cheapskate. I used to buy skinned & deboned chicken breasts, but figured it would be cheaper to just go with chicken thighs (with skin and bones). You're gonna have to skin and debone them yourself, so it's up to you on how lazy and/or cheapskate you are.




Instructions (see video)

1. Mince garlic
2. Debone and skin the chicken. Keep the bones and freeze them for future use (to make chicken stock).
3. Set oven to preheat to 350 deg F.
4. Lay aluminum foil on a baking pan and place chicken in the middle.
5. Season with salt, pepper, and mediterranean mix. RUB THEM IN.
6. Wrap up the chicken in the foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
7. Heat up some oil in a pan
8. Fry minced garlic until it starts to turn slightly brown
9. Add green beans. Turn heat to low and cover for a few minutes (~ 3 mins).
10. Sprinkle salt & pepper, stir, & dish out.

And you're DONE! =)



Stir-fried Green Beans with Garlic

Baked Mediterranean Chicken

My dinner for tonight in 30 minutes

The great thing about this dish is that you can prep the chicken, and toss it in the oven; then take your time cooking up the green beans without worrying about burning something else on the stove. I'm the worst when it comes to cooking more than two things on the stove, especially since I just switched from an electric stove to a gas one.

For those who don't know the difference between the two, electric stoves take longer to heat up and slower to cool down, while the gas stoves give you instant heat (and sometimes too much heat when you don't turn it low enough). Things like garlic will burn quicker over a gas stove and your pasta will bubble over when you're not watching the fire. If it's your first time cooking, don't try to multi-task.. unless you're making this dish! =)

I will post up a video tomorrow for this dish! (Edit: Video is up!) Enjoy and let me know that you think! ^_^

Welcome! ...and then some

Hi everyone!

I've been wanting to set up this blog for a long time, and have finally come around to doing it!

A few things about this blog - it is my aim to create simple recipes, or alter recipes out there in order to keep things as short, and as easy as possible. I experiment in all sorts of cuisines, but mainly in Malaysian and Western cooking.

To start off, here are some things you will always need in your kitchen (and for most of my recipes):

Seasonings/Sauces

• Salt
• Ground black pepper
• Cooking oil
• Soy sauce
• Italian seasoning

Ingredients

• Peeled Garlic
• Onions

Tools

• Spatula & Ladle
• Skillet or pan
• Pot
• Baking pan
• Knife & chopping board

Now let's get cooking! =)