Best sambal ever!!!

Best sambal ever, is my mom's sambal udang. I must attempt to recreate this one day...sooner more then later as I am out of it!!!

I had the last bits with my nasi goreng tonight. And its sooo good. Its even good with bread as a sandwich!! I LOVE YOU MOM :)

Vietnamese fusion salad

Easy rating 4/5, 5 very easy. This just needs chopping up.

Salad
Coriander
Bean sprouts
Carrots
Rocket mix
Crushed peanuts
Fried shalots
Rice noodles
Roasted meat of any kind

Dressing
Lemon, 1/2 cup
Raw sugar, 2 tbls
Rice vinegar, 1 tbls
Fish sauce, 1 tbla
Fresh/dried chilli whole
...taste it...as the measurements are just indicative. Vietnamese dressing should be somewhat sweet.

Then toss.

Taddaaaa

15 minute Olio Pasta

So, day has been hectic and I haven't prepared any dinner or defrosted anything at all.

My 'go-to' is any easy olio pasta.

5 ingredients in total...15 minutes!! Uep, beat tht Jamie...ok...you did.

1. Chilli, fresh or dry
2. Garlic, chopped
3. Olive oil
4. Penne, cooked al dante
5. Choritzo/bacon bits/leftover roasts

Throw 1-3, in a pot. Stir till the garlic browns then throw in the meats.

Once cooked, turn the heat off and mix in the penne. At some stage, you need to try it. With the choritzo or bacon plus chillis, this dish is often enough with just a table top seasoning of salt. if not...add it to the mix.

If you are feeling a little 'luxurious', half some mini romas and throw it in at the tail end of cooking the choritzos. Don't overcook it, aim to just softhen it slightly.

Garnish! Any green herbs (coriander/parsley/basil/wild rocket) or skip it all together. Pour that white or rosé and settling in a couch.

Luxury! Especially after a long day!!!

Btw, extremely versatile as a tapau/take away!

Passage to India, Vindaloo

Every week, I will review an Asian inspired premix and follow the cooking instructions. Which is ...hard.

This week, its Passage to India's Vindaloo simmer sauce.

It warns HOT. I like spicy but I have my limits. Hmmm...scratches head.

I decided to use pork. Its a solid meat so it won't start to disintegrate too quicky in this sauce.

I broke the rule by adding some diluted coconut cream as the sauce was getting too thick. I could have used plain water but the smell as it was simmering was telling me its chilli hot...I was hoping I could tone down the 'hot' so I can taste the spices.

You will need to cook/simmer it till the oil rises to the top. This is basic for all curry type cooking. Its the test that tells you the sauce is cooked and ready to serve.

So, the verdict?

Chilli hot: 9/10, too hot for me actually but my welsh other half thinks it could be spicier.

Spice mix: 7/10, despite the 'hotness', the spices was still tasty. Sometimes, all you can taste are just two spices.. chillies and curry, this still has a good blend.

Overall sauce: 7/10. It was a little too starchy I think. The sauce would keep together in a flat bread really well. I served it on basmati rice with stir fried long beans. But I think I will serve this next with naan and yogurt raita!

So yes. Definitely will buy again but served with bread me thinks!

Spicy Fusion Penne Arabiata

On days that I feel a little lazy but still feel like some wicked zing especially if there is a movie to watch...I cook a spicy penne arabiata.

With all things in my cooking, its fusion. I take italian and look at my asian pantry and go hmmm.

I use dry hot chilli and sweet chilli sauce to add the zing.

Here it is!

Spicy fusion Penne Arabiata

• Penne, cook al dante for two
• 1 tblsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp part dried chilli 
• 2 tblsp thai sweet chilli sauce
• 6-8 mini roma tomatos, halved.
• Prefried choritzo or bacon or both
• Use the pot you've used to cook the pasta, heat it up with 2 tblspn of oil. Once hot....
• Throw in garlic, wait it slightly brown.
• Throw in dry chilli, wait for about 30 seconds.
• Throw in half the romas that has been halved.

Finally pour the sweet chilli sauce into the pot. Stir to mix then turn off heat.

All this happens within 5 minutes and is very quick after the garlic browns as you must not let the chilli burn.

Not that the heat is off, mix in your pasta, choritzo and fresh tomatoes.

You can squeeze a bit of lemon before serving. And garnish with coriander or you can keep to the traditional parsley.

Didn't I tell you its all fusion?

Tadaaa!

I cook the choritzo the same time as the pasta so this whole meal will take about 15 minutes, prep to serve.

Sometimes, I add fetta on it if I feel a little 'hardworking' but can go without.

Spices!

Perfect with cold white wine

Satay the quick and easy way

Satay is a Malaysian favorite but all other nations has its version of satay. Its a two part dish, the satay sticks and the satay sauce.

Way back in Malaysia, almost no one makes satay at home because its so easily available in the food stalls and hawker centers. They are often cheap at around $0.15 per satay stick. And this includes the satay sauce already!

My mom home cooks satay in a dish form to be eaten with hot steamed rice. This I will write about later.

Here, I have found them for $1 each with barely enough sauce to cover the meat sticks.

So, I've decided to make it as part of my 'dinner' reportoir.

As it turns out, marinating the meat requires an entire garden of asian herbs and spices and grounding them. Errr....no time...two feral kids who always seem hungry and always trying to wage a war between them accords me with really 'minus' minutes.

There are premixes too but I decided to just reconstruct so I can have it anytime.

I use all dry powdered products.

1 part garlic
1 part tumeric
1 part lemon grass
0.5 part ginger
1 tbls soy sauce
2-3 tbls brown sugar
2-3 tbls of oil
Dash of sesame oil

This pretty much seals the deal. I sometimes get a bit generous with the sugar and soy sauce depending how 'dark and sweet' i feel like. Malaysian satays are generally sweet...but I feel guilty!

Leaving it overnight ensures the powdered texture of the spices dissapears.

Then its oven time.

Doing it on the barbie is a luxury. So
Oven at 180c for 20-25mins cooks it.

Bask it with sesame oil before it goes into a preheated oven.

Tadaa.

I squeeze lemon juice on the satay as it comes out.

Now...the sauce.

Premixed satay sauce is handy. The best is Brahims satay sauce. It says just heat up...nope. Add tamarin juice, about 1 tbls and add peanut butter...about 1 tbls spoon too. If you want it creamier, add one more tbls but no more. Tadaaa. All done. The tamarin brings the spices out a bit more I think!

By the way, I am leaning towards chicken thigh meat or anyother meats with a bit of fat for this and cut it in long strips of 1cm ish versus cubes. Then thread it on a pre-soaked bamboo stick. Pre-soak it for 20 mins in boiling water. This makes sure the sticks are clean.

Enjoy. Aramaiti! (Cheers in indigenous Kadazan)