There has been much written on the best way to make mashed potatoes. It really depends on your personal taste preferences. I have discovered that the real trick to creamy, buttery, heavenly potatoes is to use milk and butter. We usually served mashed potato with steak.
Ingredients
3 potatoes
1/3 cup of milk
2 tbs butter
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
Steps
Put the potatoes in a large pot. Add a pinch of salt. Add water until potatoes are covered. Bring to boil, covered, for at least 30 minutes until it’s done – a fork can easily be poked through them.
Drain water from the potatoes and separate the skin from the meat of the potatoes. At this point, it should be easy to do so.
Put the potatoes back into the pot and set the stove to low heat. Use potato masher to mash the potatoes until well mashed.
Add milk, butter, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve as a main course with noodles or steamed rice for 2.
This is my husband’s favorite food. Absolutely. No question about it. The dressing is inspired by sauce made in the China. It has a wonderful balance of sweet, sour, and salty, and the coriander, spring onion and ginger fill the sauce with lots of chewy, yummy bits!
Ingredients
2 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs finely chopped coriander
2 tbs finely chopped ginger
2 tbs finely sliced spring onions
2 tbs sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
2 tbs malt vinegar
dash of sesame oil
Wontons
9 uncooked medium sized prawns
1 tbs finely chopped coriander
1 ts finely chopped ginger
1 tbs finely sliced spring onions
1 ts light soy sauce
1 ts oyster sauce
a pinch of white sugar
dash of sesame oil
16 fresh wonton wrappers
Steps
For the wontons, peel and de-vein prawns. Note that most supermarket provide this service for free.
Dice the prawn meat.
Combine the prawn meat with remaining ingredients of wontons, except wonton wrappers, in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine soy sauce, coriander, ginger, spring onions, sweet soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil in a bowl and set aside.
Next, place a rounded teaspoon of the wonton filling in the centre of a wonton wrapper and shape the wontons.
Steam the wonton for 15 minutes until it’s cooked. To test the wontons you will need to remove one and cut into it with a sharp knife to see if the prawns are cooked through.
Heat oil in a pan fry, high heat. Put bottom side of the wontons into the pan fry so the bottom side of the wontons is brown and crunchy.
Arrange wontons on a platter or on top of noodles and serve immediately, drizzled with dressing.
Serve as a main course with steamed rice or pasta for 4
A dish doesn’t have to be complicated, or take a lot of time, to be good. This recipe is very simple and easy to follow.
Ingredients
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
500 grams prawns, peeled
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
80 grams feta cheese
Steps
Preheat oven to 240 Celcius.
Cut the onion and tomatoes into small pieces. Finely chopped the garlic.
Heat oil in a large pan, oven proof. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add tomatoes and bring to simmer, reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley, prawns, feta cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
Place pan in oven and bake until the prawn is cooked,
Serve as a main course with steamed rice or mashed potato for 2
The most important thing to remember about cooking a lamb is to not over cook it. Lamb has such wonderful flavor on its own, and is so naturally tender. Personally, we prefer medium rare, a little pink inside. This recipe is easy to follow and very delicious. Not to mention, yogurt, ginger, garlic, coriander, and cumin combine wonderfully.
Ingredients
500g lamb cutlets
1/2 cup natural yogurt
1 cm of ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 tbs coriander
1 tbs cumin powder
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
Steps
Finely chopped the ginger and garlic.
Place 1/2 cup yogurt, ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin in a large bowl and stir until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Add lamb cutlets and stir to coat with spice mixture. Cover plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to marinate.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat.
Add the cutlets and cook for about 2 minutes each side.
Is there nothing better than French Toast for weekend breakfast? Slice of bread, soaked in a mixture of beaten egg with milk, toasted in a frying pan, coated with sugar and cinnamon, and served with maple syrup and strawberry. This has to be one of our favorite breakfast dishes.
Ingredients
4 breads
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 ts cinnamon
butter
strawberry
maple syrup
Steps
Place eggs and milk in a bowl. Whisk until combined.
Combined sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish.
Cut each bread into half. Dip the bread, 1 at a time, in egg mixture until soaked.
Melt the butter in a large, non stick frying pan over medium heat.
Put bread on the frying pan for around 2 minutes each side until golden brown.
Remove from the pan. Toss in sugar mixture to coast.
Serve toast with maple syrup and strawberry. Enjoy your breakfast!
Grilling is an art that needs to be mastered. This rustic cooking method often associated to masculinity and left to our male counterpart. But don’t hesitate, this simple recipe that I’m sharing you today is easy to prepare and taste fantastic.
The key to a great grill is to have fresh ingredients. This dish is no difference. Find yourself a fresh piece of Sea Bream, Barramundi or Cod and quickly whip up the Sambal Kecap, a popular Indonesian dipping sauce.
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Ingredients
1 whole fish
a pinch of salt
2 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp oil
Sambal Kecap
3 shallots
1 red chili
1 ripe tomatoes, diced
4 tsp sweet Indonesian soy sauce (kecap manis)
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Steps
Clean the fish. Note than most supermarket provide this service for free.
Make several shallow diagonal slits on each side. Season the fish with the salt and lemon juice, and brush it with oil.
Set the oven to grilled and preheat the oven to 240 Celcius.
Leave the fish in the oven for at least 30 minutes. It varies depending on the size of the fish.
In the meanwhile, finely chopped shallots and red chili. Cut tomato into small pieces.
Combine all the ingredients for Sambal Kecap and set aside.
Serve the fish along with Sambal Kecap in a small bowl on the side. Alternatively serve Sambal Kecap on top of the fish.
What I love about this recipe, other than the ingredients (smoked salmon, yum!) is that it can be pulled together so quickly and it’s not particularly heavy, as so many cream sauce pastas can be.
Ingredients
300g dries pasta shapes
300ml pure (thin) cream
2 garlic cloves
200g smoked salmon
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves
Steps
Preheat the oven to 190 Celcius.
Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water. Drain the pasta and place in baking dish.
While the pasta is cooking, finely chopped the garlic. Add the cream, garlic, and smoked salmon in a pan into a pan. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
Pour over pasta and toss gently to combine.
Scatter the bread crumbs, lemon zest, and parsley.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the crumbs are golden.
Guacamole, a dip made from avocados, is originally from Mexico. The real trick to great guacamole is to use good avocados. Make sure your avocados are ripe. Depending on your taste, you can serve guacamole dip smooth or chunky. People usually serve this dip with corn chips, or an array of fresh vegetables.
Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1 tbs lime, juiced
1/2 ts salt
1/4 finely diced onion
2 tbs finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 tomato diced, seeds and pulp removed
Steps
Cut the avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avocado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl.
Mash the avocado.
Add the onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and tomato. Mix it well. Remember that much of this is done to taste because the variability in the fresh ingredients. Start with this recipe and adjust to your taste.
Cover with plastic warp and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Sweet and sour pork is a popular Cantonese cuisine. The recipe juxtapose the intense flavor of the pork with the light tangy vinegar sauce. There are few different version of this dish. Some people use pineapple in the sauce and add some starch to thickens the texture. Feel free to experiment. The secret to a great sweet and sour pork however, is to marinate the pork with the egg yolks and corn flour overnight!
Ingredients
300g pork boneless
1 1/2 tbs corn flour
1 tbs cold water
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3 ts light soy sauce
2 ts sesame oil
1 ts salt
1/4 cup plain flour for deep frying
1/4 cup corn flour for deep frying
Sweet and Sour Sauce
1 carrot, peeled
1 cucumber
1 tomato
1/4 cup malt vinegar, season to taste
5 tbs shao hsing wine or dry sherry
1/4 cup white sugar
1 ts salt
4 garlic
2 tbs ginger
2 tbs light soy sauce
Steps
Blend corn flour with water in a medium sized bowl.
Add pork, egg yolks, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt, and mix well. Cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
To make the sweet and sour sauce: Using a vegetable peeler, finely slice carrot lengthways into ribbons. Cut cucumber in half lengthways, slice on the diagonal. Cut tomato into small pieces and set aside together with the cucumber and carrot.
Chop the garlic and ginger into small pieces.
Place vinegar, wine or sherry, sugar, and extra salt in a saucepan and stir over high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil.
Add garlic and ginger, reduce heat and simmer, for 10 minutes.
Add reserved carrot, cucumber, tomato and simmer for another 3 minutes or until tomato has broken down slightly.
Stir in soy sauce, remove from stove and set aside.
Combine plain flour and corn flour for deep frying.
Add to the marinated pork and mix well.
Heat oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Deep fry pork until lightly browned, crispy and cooked through.
Arrange pork on a platter and serve immediately with sweet and sour sauce.
Inka Tanaya is a former mathematician for a gaming company, currently living as a full time housewife in Dubai. Loves cooking and enjoy the occasional fine dining.
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Inka Tanaya is a former mathematician for a gaming company, currently living as a full time housewife in Dubai. Loves cooking and enjoy the occasional fine dining.