Study Break Meals

Hey there! Sorry for the delay but I've been pretty busy with school related stuff as exams are coming soon. However i managed to squeeze in a couple of recipes of mine. As we know, one of the all time favorites of students is mac and cheese. I mean, come on. Who doesn't love mac and cheese. Macaroni and cheese? Does not get better than that. Also tested out a simple meringue recipe. Probably an easier version of macaroon but still as good as ever. Just because i am lazy, i decided to use a nutella chocolate jam filling for the meringue's. Enjoy! 

Recipe for mac and cheese:

500g Macaroni

10 Cherry tomatoes halved

3-4 slices Streaky Bacon chopped

50g Parmesan cheese grated

500ml Cream

200g Bread crumbs

A knob of Butter

2 tablespoon Flour

2-3 cloves Garlic chopped

2 Shallots chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Boil pasta according to packet.

2. Fry the streaky bacon on a pan with olive oil till crispy.

3. Heat up another pan on high, add butter and flour. Incorporate it together,turn stove down to low heat and add garlic and shallots. Allow garlic and shallot to soften.

4. Slowly add cream into the pan while whisking. Allow the mixture simmer and add in cooked pasta along with cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese and streaky bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Place into a oven proof mould or bowl and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and place it into the oven till breadcrumbs crisp up.

6. Ready to serve.

Recipe for Mini Meringue with Nutella Filling:

4 Egg whites

150g caster sugar

200g Nutella chocolate jam

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 90 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper or silicon mat.

2. In a electric mixer, whip egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar gradually, increase the speed to high and beat to till hard peak stage.( Can be done by hand with whisk but my advice is to use an electric mixer)

3. Using a spatula, fill into a piping bag and pipe nice circles onto a lined baking tray. Bake for 90-120 minutes.

4. Remove and cool completely before filling it up with nutella chocolate jam in between.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Dear readers, I've been busy with school lately. However, I'm writing this post while in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan the home of my mom. Every year, me and my family comeback here to meet up with relatives, eat lots and lots of food and most importantly get ang pau's(red packets with money as we all know)!!! What is Chinese New Year's really about to me? It is a time where families get back together to just reminisce about life and keep in touch because at the end of the day family comes first.

 Reunion dinner full vast array of dishes from herbal chicken to fried fish to stir fry cabbage to braised pork. I could go on and on but that would lead to your boredom. Food that brings back the comfort into our belly's. Credits to my grandmother and aunt for the meal even though it normally occurs with a overload of cooking. Note that no one was hurt with the massive portion. Not that i don't love it, it just blew my belly but still appreciate and love them!

Prawn crackers! My aunt actually does some business by selling her specialty, prawn crackers. Every year, she makes her awesome prawn crackers. Mine you, that prawn crackers ain't an easy snack to make. Probably one of the most quickest snack to munch on it takes a long process to make this snack. NO! there ain't a recipe in this post. why?cause i have never made it before. However, i have a good understanding of how it is done.It is made with a long and grueling process, words of my aunt. My aunt tells me its basically a mixture of prawn paste and spices sauteed and dried out in the sun for 3 days! After that it is fried and poof. We have prawn crackers. Hats off to my aunt for doing it every year.

  The ever present snacks during Chinese New Year. People shall not worry about hunger!

Aunt's Prawn Crackers

Once again, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Apples!Apples!Apples!

An apple a day keeps the doctor a way. In this case, it is apple strudel. Here's a "apple strudel" recipe. Probably not a traditional or the right way but it is a simple version of it and most importantly its good!

Ingredients:(serves 5-6 pieces)

2 Apples sliced thinly remove core

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of water

1 knob of butter

Puff pastry store bought

Icing sugar for garnish

1 Egg for egg wash

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.Start out with a caramel sauce by heating up the sugar and water till it turns golden brown. Add the butter right away and when it has dissolved, add in the sliced apples. Cook the apples till slightly golden and remove from pan.

Thaw puff pastry and cut into rectangular shapes. Layer each puff pastry with caramelized apples. Brush top of puff pastry with egg wash and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with icing sugar. Ready to serve.

My Minestrone

Minestrone soup. Probably one of the most comforting dishes on this planet. Simple and delicious, it is perfect comfort food on a rainy day. A dish which is easy to make because everything is done in one pot. Originated in Italy, it has many different types of version with different ingredients. This is one simple recipe that you guys should try out! 

Ingredients(serves 4):

100g macaroni

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

2 whole carrot chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1 onions chopped 

1 cucumber chopped

10 cherry tomatoes chopped into half

500ml chicken stock/vegetable stock

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 chili chopped

 Instructions:

1.  Heat up pot and add olive oil. Add in onions and garlic and saute, this is called a soffrito.
2.  Add in all the other vegetables and cook it for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add in your tomato puree and give it a stir. After that add in your stock and bring it to a boil.
4. Once brought to a boil, add in your pasta. Allow it to boil until the pasta is cooked.
5. Season well with salt and pepper. Ready to serve.

Simple Recipes Tweaked

Hey people! What do you want when your are home alone and have no food for dinner? Well,i know most would want ready made meals. I know people these days feel that cooking up your own dinner is a pain in the ass. However, there are simple recipes out there which actually takes little effort and time to do. Spaghetti aglio olio is one of my all time favorites and here are a couple of simple recipes with a twist inspired by basically what i had in fridge on this very day

Aglio Olio with jalapeño peppers,you could just replace it with fresh chili's as for the bacon u could use any other protein as you wish

Spaghetti aglio olio:
Ingredients
450g Spaghetti
4-5 Strips of Smoked Streaky Bacon (rough chopped)
3-4 Garlic cloves (chopped)
4-5 Cherry tomatoes
1-2 Pickled Jalapeño Peppers (chopped) optional
1 tablespoon Chili powder
3-4 tablespoons Olive oil
Freshly ground salt and black pepper(season to taste)
                                                          
                                                                                                                           

Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and salt it generously. Add the pasta and cook stirring occasionally until al dente(timing according to packet)
 2. Start out by sauteing the bacon till crisp. Remove the bacon, and add olive oil.
 3. Saute garlic for a couple of minutes or until soften. Add in jalapeño peppers and cherry tomatoes and allow it to cook for a minute.
 4. Drain the pasta and add to the pan. Season to taste with chili powder,salt and black pepper. Add bacon back to the pan. You can lemon juice or some parsley to your desirable taste. Serve.




Root Beer Float with Cereal Toppings
This drink/dessert was just inspired when i i realized i had root beer and vanilla ice cream in the refrigerator. Realized that i wanted to add crunch to the float, my moms musli cereal was laying on the kitchen top and decided to just use it. Simple but it just adds flavor and crunch to the recipe. Love crunch!
(Any amount to you liking)Go freestyle!
Root Beer
Vanilla Ice Cream
Cereal( any type according to liking)

New year, new resolutions

When every new year comes along, we have our very own new year's resolution. Here's mine, to share about my passion for food to people out there whoever you may be. This blog is basically about what the name of the blog says, food! Hopefully this will be a start of something great and i hope people out there whoever you may be would enjoy it.