Japanese Tetris

Without realising it, we seemed to have sailed passed the 200^th post a while back. Yipeee!!

Enough of food for once. Here's some variety, for old time sake ;)

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Yes, it's those hilarious japanese again. Check out their twist on tetris. Hehhe..



Big thanks to chye for the link

Masak Lemak Cili Api Prawns

Here's something I pulled out from my ever expanding backlog. This one's from when Chuan was over a while back for a cooking session. In fact, it was so long ago I can't properly recall what went into the food :(

Chuan: if you spot any mistakes/omissions, do edit the post

Can't remember how the situation unfolded, but somehow, only after all the planning, shopping, and prep work we done, did we realise that both of us were working towards a different dish -- Chuan had his mind set on a thai green curry thingy, while I was working towards something like masak lemak cili api.

Whichever the inspiration, they both led to the same ingredients, and one dish :p

To make things green, we got some leafy stuff from the chinese market - a huge bunch of coriander and what we suspect to be curry leaves.

For the ooomph factor, lots of chillies!

Finely chop all the above, ...

... then have Chuan pound 'em!!

The prawns are then mixed into the concoction and left to marinate for a while.

Next, we added in some coconut milk and put the whole mixture to boil, stirring constantly. Once the prawn is cooked, fish them and continue simmering the sauce curry soup lemaky liquid stuff.

We then realised that some asam jawa (tamarind) juice would be require, but of course, I didn't have any lying around. A substitution is in order ....

... OK, this will do.

Simmer simmer.

Stir stir.

When it finally looked good enough to eat, the cooked prawns went back in. Then some sliced lady's fingers. Finally, a little fish sauce to taste.

TADA!

Masak Lemak Cili Api Prawns

Served with crispy fried salmon topped with shallots and soy sauce. (and rice. of course.)

and a couple of ice cold Innis & Gunn

Nostrovia!!

Tuna Spaghetti Carbonara

So, with absolutely no blogging experience whatsoever, here I am, attempting my first entry. Before we begin, I think formal introductions are in order. Please meet Pinky (right) and the Brain (left).

One of us does most of the preparation and cooking while the other focuses on more important matters like cooking procedures, ingredients and total world domination.


Also, please meet Tom, Little Dick and Harry. Without them, we're pretty much dysfunctional.

It was a Friday and we had neither meat nor vegetables left in the fridge. Notwithstanding that, we still needed our meal before we could go about with our dastardly plans of conquering the world. You can never work on an empty stomach. I decided that Tuna Spaghetti Carbonara was what we needed.


This simple dish just needed some eggs, parmesan cheese, sliced onions, diced garlic, tuna and spaghetti. Nothing spectacular and I'm pretty sure you can find similar recipes elsewhere.

Spaghetti

1. Bring water to boil. Add lots of salt (it's supposed to increase the water boiling point and therefore ensure that the spaghetti doesn't become sticky; google said so).
2. Chuck in spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain water but save some for later.

The Tuna, The Pan and The Sauces

1. Fry the onion and garlic until browned and then add in tuna. Fry for about 4-5 mins.
   
2. Beat the eggs (about two per person) and add parmesan cheese into it.
   
3. Put drained spaghetti into pan and mix everything up well. Add the saved spaghetti water to make it a little moist.
4. Pour in the egg and parmesan cheese mix and stir thoroughly at a low heat. When done right, the egg shouldn't turn chunky. I've yet to get it right.
5. Add salt, pepper and mixed herb to flavour.

Tada! Dinner is served. Unfortunately, it wasn't as creamy as I hoped it to be. You could additionally add some cream to the egg and parmesan mix to get that creamy texture. Will try that out in the future.

Please excuse me for the lack of photos. You've got to have a certain amount of respect for the other chefs here as they are able to dice, chop, fry and snap photos at the same time. I couldn't even do that even with Pinky and Little Dick's help.

Anyway, with dinner and this entry done, I'm off to enslave the human race. Who's with me??

Skewered Turkey and Bacon Rolls

This is a classic dish taught by my Irish flatmate long long time ago. It is great for summer as it can be barbecued or grilled. Here are the ingredients:


Turkey slices (~ 1 cm thick, it will be harder to roll if it is any thicker), smoked bacon (smoked gives more flavour to the turkey), pasta sauce, red/green pepper and fresh basil leaves which is missing from the pic.

Put a slice of bacon, spread it with some pasta sauce, and put some fresh basil leaves on top of it:


Lay the turkey slice on top of that. Roll it and stick it with a bamboo skewer like satay. You can skewer some vegetable like onions, mushrooms or red/green pepper, just to make the dish a bit healthier:


Pop it into the grill (150 degree celsius) for 20 mins, and flip it and another 20 mins the other side. Served with cuscus :


Note:
I find it to be a bit dry as it didn't has sauce. I could have made a tomato based sauce for it, but then again, I was too hungry.

It is ideal for barbecue, and it always tastes better with barbecue. If you don't have fresh basil leaves, those dried version is alright too.

Still offline

I'm still alive.

My broadband kaput since my trip back to M'sia. No posts from me till things get sorted out.

Anyway, just a quick hello to everyone, and a big thanks to bengchuan for keeping the blog flowing with yummy entries. Oh.. I've also invited another kaki as a guest author -- viktor. Will let him intro himself when once he accepts the invite ;)

Bagel with salted beef

Few weeks ago, I tasted this bagel in a Jewish bakery shop at Brick Lane, London. It tasted so good that I was craving for it when I got back to Cambridge. Since I can only get it from London, and decided to cook it myself. So here it is:

British beef, the one that is free of mad cow disease:


Covered it with sea salt..keep it for days (ideally 6 days) in the fridge:


This is how it looks like after 2 days.. and I couldn't wait any longer. It looked a bit unappeatizing at this time:


Simmer it with garlic and black pepper:


After one hour of cooking, and the meat looks better:



Cut the meat into slices and serve with bagels, mustard and pickles:



Note:
It is not as good as the one in the bakery shop, but it is the closest that I can get. It does taste similiar though.

The meat needs to be boiled a long hour (3-4 hours) for it to be soft and moist. But I couldn't wait, so I had to settle with a slightly chewy meat.

I don't have food poisoning the next day too :) . I guess the salt kills all the harmful bacterias.

Oven Baked Curry Lamb

Oven cooking is always my favourite - it is easy and less messy. This dish is ideal if you want to catch a tv series while having your dinner cooked for you.

First, lamb cutlets marinated with curry powder, cummin, tumeric and salt:


arrange a layer of potatoes underneath those lamb in aluminium foil. They served as a "sponge" to absorb all the juices, oil from the lamb:


then a layer of onion, a bit of green pea for the colour, cinnamon stick (no idea why did I put it in) and drizzle some oils on top:


Wrap it up and go in to the oven for ~ 40 mins on 200 degree celsius:


End result:



Note:
Those cinnamon sticks do not create any taste to it. Well, at least I could not taste anything.

A Proper Big Beef Burger

I am kind of dissapointed with the state of beef burger today; It fills you up alright but it is not satisfying. The reason is the meat in the burger- There are more other stuffs than meat in a burger nowadays. Worst till, some of the burger patties do not even taste like beef.

Hence, I am creating a proper big beef burger; the one that packed with so much meat that it will make Big Mac or Double Whooper looks like skinny little kid...

Since most of the stores do not sell the burger patty the size that matches the requirement, I have to make it myself. Here is the ingredients:


Mix them into a bowl. Add in 2 tablespoons of Oregano, 2 tablespoons of Thyme, 1 teaspoon of cumin, sea salt and grounded black pepper.


Once it is mixed properly, make round burger patty from it. Here are my three lovely burger patties:


Each weighs ~130 grams and ~ 1 inch thick:


Then pan fry the patty with a bit of oil. Make sure you use low heat, so that the burger is cooked properly. The hard part is to flip it while retaining the shape of the patty. You may find that the burger might not be cooked inside due to its thickness, just pop it into the oven and continue cooking for ~15 mins on 200 degree celsius.

After the burger patty is cooked, melt some brie(cheese) on top. Served with tomatoes, chips, fried egg and salads:


This is how it looks like when I stacked everything together (~7cm tall):


Note:
It was quite a feat to eat the stacked burger. I had to open my mouth as big as I can to get a bite of it. This hurt my jaw. Having chips with the burger was a mistake too. By the end of the meal, I was laying on the sofa for two hour with a bulging belly and an aching jaw. Right now I know how an anaconda feels like after a big meal.