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!

Freezing Food IS Cool!

When I was studying in Japan, each time I came back to Malaysia for holidays, I will packed some frozen local food to bring back so I could still enjoy the taste of Malaysia whenever I missed home. My parents would buy rendang, murtabak and other of my favorite local dishes, then we would freeze them in 1-person-portion in small plastic bags for 72 hours before my flight is due. The longer is the better actually. Next, we will pack them in polisterine box, sealed and this will travel with me for 6 hours flight to Narita, another 1 hours flight to Aomori and by road to Hirosaki, which will be almost 10 hours including the waiting time for each transportation schedule. I will quickly freeze them again, and these food will be kept for 6 months. Well, I have to admit, I didn't keep them up to 6 months, but it could last for more than a year, and being away from home, it still taste super-delicious to me! :)

I started to do home-made frozen food when I had my 3rd child. My maid did not want to continue her contract after 2 years of service, so I had to handle 2 small kids and a new baby alone at home. Even though it is 'pantang' or against the local rule for any post-delivered moms to eat cold food, I had no choice. Survival is more important, and that includes keeping me sane. Admit it mommies, we need our extra time, not only to spend more time with your family, but also to appreciate ourselves...we deserve it!



So, this is how my freezer usually look like, even now. I'll freeze my kids favorite food which are pasta, marinated chickens and ingredients for other 5-10 minutes recipes. Also curries and stews, only the gravy/soups. At times when I bake, it will have frozen muffins, bread puddings, quiches and buns.

So, how do you start a frozen food meal for your family? I've heard comments from my friends that their family doesn't like frozen food. Well, let's understand this, most restaurant food are also frozen, some with preservatives, and we are talking about home-made frozen food. Why does your family do not like frozen food? It's not the food, unless you really can't cook, but if you have been cooking fresh for them your whole life until you read this, and feeling tired and drained out, well, let me tell you this, it's not the food they hate, it's the 'ice' or 'freezer' tastes. Also, to some families is, the fact that you are serving the same food for a few consecutive days.

Then, how to make them accept frozen food?

1. Freeze it and reheat it well
There are ways to do it right and save you more time for yourself, if you appreciate yourself. I will share more on this in my post Secrets of Frozen Food

2. Do not serve it repeatedly
Imagine eating the same food at dinner table 2-3 days in a row? Of course, the first day you are serving it, it'll be a blast because you had just cooked it fresh. Then you happily freeze the left-overs, and to save your time, reheated it the next day and maybe the day after too. If you have picky-eater husband or kids or both, OF COURSE, they will know. Don't think they wouldn't notice the same chicken curry they had for 2 nights, do you? So, if you have left-overs, freeze it for next week, it won't get bad and in fact, for food that used lots of spices or herbs, it will taste even better! Think of mamak stall! :D

3. Similar but not
My rule is - home-made frozen food should not be the exact left-overs. If you have too much of a left-over, either freeze it and reheat it the next week, or else innovate your ideas and creativities to 'disguise' it.

When we have grilled lamb or chicken or beef for dinner last night and had left-overs, I will re-use them for either my kids' lunchboxes or home-meals. You can shred them, stir-fry a little adding a bit more herbs or just peppers, or you can even add sauces to turn them into sandwiches. In this photo, I packed tortilla wraps with the shredded grilled chicken left-overs and veggies. You could also add the shredded chickens in fried rice or noodles, or scattered on home-made pizza or quiches or omelettes...thousands of different ideas!

So, still thinking home-made frozen food is impossible?

Secrets of Frozen Food

If stored correctly, home-made frozen food can last between 3-6 months, depending on the food type. Keep in mind that food in the freezer very rarely goes “bad”, it’s the quality that starts to diminish because of 'freezer burn'. The longer the meal is in the freezer the longer it is exposed to opening and closing doors and susceptible to freezer burn. The microorganisms aren’t growing as they would be in a refrigerator, organisms are frozen. However, the longer you leave the dish in the freezer the less appealing it can become. As per my other post, I have eaten meals that have been in the freezer for over a year and still lived to tell about it though *LOL*

So how long you can freeze any food? Below is the general guidelines:

So, what is a freezer burn? Taken from Mr Wiki, Freezer burn is a condition that occurs when frozen food has been damaged by dehydration and oxidation, due to air reaching the food. This can happen when food is not securely wrapped in air-tight packaging. Freezer burn is NOT a food safety risk. The result, you have less tasty or 'prettier' food. So, the key here is - AIR TIGHT, and this lies in the containers you choose to use.

The secret to getting a delicious frozen food meal is thawing it the right way. Frozen food will taste best when it is back to room temperature, which in thawing it will takes more than 12 hours. You can thaw it outside the fridge if you are staying at home the whole day to check on the food now and then, or in the fridge. Casserole and lasagna type dishes will take 24-48 hours to defrost in the fridge; meat will take anywhere from 12-24 hours. Usually what I will do is, If I'd like to have the food for breakfast, I will take it out of the freezer and put in the fridge before going to sleep at night, or even while cooking dinner, if I already have plans for breakfast menu. The first thing in the next morning, I put it on the table, and than have my showers. Next, I can reheat them either by fire or just pop in the microwave/oven (depending on the food) while getting my kids ready. In less than 10 minutes, we would have our breakfast on the table! This also goes well for dinners for working moms. Before going out of the house in the morning, take out your 'future dinner' from the freezer into the fridge, then after work, just pop it into the microwave/oven...or you can even cook it on fire as usual.

For extra-sensitive-taste-buds and I-can-only-eat-local-food picky eaters, there's also a solution for our busy moms. Cook the curries, sambal, stews, soup separately without adding in the meat (beef/lamb/chicken) or seafood. Reheat the food on fire and once the liquid fully melted and return to its own usual texture, add in the meat or seafood. You can cut them upfront together with the veggies but store separately in the freezer, and thaw the same way as the gravy by taking them 12 hours upfront into the fridge. Before you start cooking, again thaw them using water as this will bring them to their natural state faster. This is almost similar method as you buying and using packed instant curries sold in the market, but the great thing here is, yours now is home-cooked :)

Dried Mixed Fruits Scones

I love scones and always can't get enough of them! The best scones are always freshly baked or you could bake in big batches then reheat them anytime you want to have them :) Scones don't get molded fast, unlike muffins or cakes hence you may not even have to freeze them unless you are planning to keep them for more than a week. They are very simple to make and yet let you have great breakfast of tea-time snacks every day! You can use raisins as the recipe usually requires, but as my daughter and husband always said desperately, "Mama, you always buying cookbooks, look at them while cooking but came out with something else!". The reason is, they always expected what they saw I was referring at in the cookbooks, but I always can't stick to the recipe and like to set out for an adventure by twisting it a bit :)
So for this recipes, I had some dried apricots, mixed raisins, dried blueberries and cranberries, also dates in the stock, hence I chopped them all to make half a cup and add them in. You can use less or more, depending on your preference. Enjoy!

4 cups of self-raising flour
2 large whole eggs (beaten)
Milk or Buttermilk mixed with the beaten egg, enough to make 1 1/2 cups of liquid
1/2 cup soften butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cups mixed dried fruits (chopped)
1 extra egg for glazing (beaten)
Extra flour for rolling the dough

Mixed butter, salt and flour well to make them crumb-like, which is almost the same method use for making pastry sheets. Obviously I didn't take any photos while doing this (as my hands are busy! *LOL*) hence the photo below is courtesy of another web. The texture should be as the last photo:

Next, pour in the the egg and milk/buttermilk mixture together with the dried fruits, and get ready to roll! First roll the dough in the mixing bowl till it forms a round dough, before moving it to a lightly floured surface. Roll to about 2cm or 1 inch thick and cut with your cookie cutter. Place them on the lightly oiled or buttered baking tray, glaze with the extra egg on top then bake for 10-15 minutes or till golden brown.

Serve hot with cream cheese or if you prefer butter or cream, and of course, jam!

To freeze:
Make sure they had cooled thoroughly. Wrap each individual scones in either aluminium foil or plastic wrap before storing all in freezer sealed bags and put in the freezer. Remember, this is only if you need to keep them longer than a week. To reheat, thaw them for 30 minutes then bake them for 8-10 minutes or you can put them in the microwave about 8-10 seconds per scones. If reheated via microwave, you need to eat them while they are hot or they may turn rock-hard when they are cold.

Chicken Cacciatore

My family, actually the kids, love tomato-based food - soups, pasta, dishes...So I decided to try this new recipe but have to make a few changes by removing the wine which is used in the original recipe. This is the first time I'm trying, and I'm glad it's a hit in my family! The recipe is actually very simple, since it's using slow-cooker, so all you have to do is dump everything and check it again in 3-6 hours time :)

4 chicken thighs
1 can of tomato soup
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoon of chicken stock
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 stalk of celery - diced
2 tomatoes - diced
1 carrot and 1 potato - sliced or diced, up to you
1 cup button mushroom - sliced or quartered
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Put in the vegetables (minus the tomatoes), bay leaves, dried oregano, first and the chicken on top, pour in enough water to cover the chicken and turn on the slow-cooker. If using low-heat, cook for about 6 hours but if high-heat cook about 3 hours.
Then, remove the bay leaves and half of the soup (water). Add in the tomatoes, tomato soup, chicken stock, sugar, salt and pepper, stir all and leave for about 15-30 minutes more before serving.

Since I have planted oregano, I used fresh ones. For the vegetables, you could also add in olives, sweet yellow and red pepper, eggplants or maybe others, if you are brave enough to try the varieties.

You can enjoy this either with spagetti, rice or bread :)

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.