Simple Olio Spaghetti

On days the whole family want something simple but tasty, I'll make these. Ok, I have to admit that the chicken was pre-made, which means I always buy a bunch of drumsticks whenever I see them looking fresh at the poultry isle, then marinate and freeze them at home for my convenient use anytime in needs :)

There are many ways to marinate chickens, too many recipes which I won't be sharing in this post as this post is about - the spaghetti. Olio Spaghetti is by far the simplest but still maintain you as a great cook at home..haha! You may have heard Aglio, Olio and also Pepperoncino or Pepperoncini Spaghetti and wondered? Yes, they are all the same thing :)

The recipe below is for 2 adults (standard size meal) or 3 kids below 9 years.

Ingredients:
250g cooked spaghetti (set aside)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (can add up to 1/3 cup if you want more)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil flakes
1/2 tsp chilli pepper flakes (optional if you don't like it spicy, especially for kids)
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat up the oil and garlic, then add in the spaghetti. Stir and fold the spaghetti all over to ensure covered with the oil, then add in all the other ingredients which are the herbs, together. Keep on stirring to ensure all are mixed well.
2. Serve with cheese on top and either some fresh garden salad (if you are vegetarian) or grilled chicken as the picture or just garlic breads.

The best thing about Olio is, you can add in anything apart of its simple self. In these photos, you can see me adding cherry tomatoes. Add in some shrimps when heating the garlic and oil to have Shrimp Olio, or some squids too for a seafood one. Or at the end, instead of grilled chicken, you can put in grilled giant prawns with cheesy topping, or Portobello  mushroom like below, just simply anything! Enjoy!

Wakame Udon/Soba

It's been a long time since I had the time for blogging, let alone blogwalking :P
But I've been asked a few time to share my recipe for Japanese style udon or soba in soup, so tonight, I tried to steal some time to blog this. The most important ingredient for this recipe is the 'dashi', which is actually the fish stock. There are varieties of fish stock used, but after trying a few, I think 'katsuodashi' is the most suitable for this dish. Next is also the 'shoyu' or soy sauce, and here I advise you to use Japanese brand Kikkoman instead of local Chinese or Malaysia soy sauce as it taste different, hence will give a strange taste to your soup.

Here are examples of katsuodashi sold in Jusco around Malaysia. These fish stock usually packed in small packets. All these things you could easily get from any Jusco stores.

These are wakame. The dried wakame packet is the exact one I bought at Jusco, but there are others as well. Since wakame is a type of seaweed, this is how it looks like when cooked (right):

Next is the shoyu:

It is also sold in small bottle in certain stores so if you rarely cook Japanese food, it is advisable to buy the small bottle, about 250-300ml if I'm not mistaken.

So here's the recipe for 3 persons:

3 cups of water
2 small packets of katsuodashi
3 packets of fresh udon
1-2 tablespoon of dried wakame
Shoyu
1 stalk of leek


First, rinse the udon under cold water before cooking it for 1-2 minutes in hot-boiled water, set aside. For the soup, boil 3 cups of water, then add in the 2 small packets of katsuodashi. Keep on stirring till all mixed, before adding in shoyu. I don't actually measure how much, as this is according to your own taste, whether you'd like it mild or salty. Last, add in the wakame and boil for 1-2 minutes, adding in half a cup of water if necessary. To serve, put in the udon in the bowl first before pouring in the soup. Chop the leek as garnishing, and you could also add in tempura or aburaage (sweetened deep fried tofu), or even fish cakes.

You could also use soba for this recipe, but my kids prefer udon. Itadakimasu!

Mama's Special Mee Hailam

I called this Mama's Special Mee Hailam because my family loves this so much, and it's also special because you can put just anything out of your fridge! If you don't like beef or chicken, you can purely use seafood such as squids and shrimps, but you could also mix both seafood with beef or chicken, or have all of them together! For vegetarians, you can just used any veggies - peas, mushrooms, any green leaves, cabbages, baby corn, carrots...some of these or even all! That's the best thing about this recipe ;)

Here are the recipe, and you can choose whether you want to put all or some of the things in A list. Enjoy!

A list
1kg of yellow noodle
1 chicken breast cuts into cubes
200g of shrimps (you can choose to unshell or not)
200g of squids cut into rings
10 fishballs or chicken balls cut into halves
500g beef cooked in pressure cooker, keep about 2 cups of stock
A quarter of whole cabbage - sliced
1 carrot - sliced
Half a pack of peas/baby con - sliced
Half a pack of mustard - cut about 2 inches
1-2 tomatoes (depending on size) cuts into 8
Half a pack of oyster mushrooms  sliced
2 celeries - sliced

B list
2 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon blended onions with garlic mix
4 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon thick and sweet soy sauce
2-3 tablespoon of corn flour mixed with half a cup of water

Heat up the oil and blended mix, then fry the chicken and seafood in List A till 3/4 cooked, before frying the veggies (please do not add tomatoes or the green leaves yet, it should be the last). If you are using beef with the stock, you can add in beef and stock now and mix everything which will look like a stew. Then, you can add the oyster sauce and soy sauce in, mix again. If you are not using the beef stock, you could use the chicken or beef stock cubes, but need to add 2 cups of water. Finally, add in the noodles, let it set first before adding the corn flour mixture. Turn the noodles and soup. If it's too thick, you can add in more water, but if it's too thin, you could add another 1 tablespoon on corn flour mixed in a bit of water. You can add in salt up to your taste.