Chocolate Salami is a recipe that Italy has in common with many Mediterranean countries: Portugal, Greece, Romania, and there are version in Northern Europe as well. The first time I came across it I was in high school, my friend Manuela brought chocolate salami for an occasion, Continue reading Italian Chocolate Salami – Original Recipe
Since I moved to SE Asia, I’ve been learning about all the different soups typically enjoyed in this region. From Laksa and Bak Ku Teh in Singapore and Malaysia, to Tom Yum Soup in Thailand, to Pho and the many varieties of beef noodle soups here in Vietnam. Continue reading Classic Vichyssoise – A Cold Soup
For years I wondered, how different could Pasta alla Norma be from my usual improvised aubergine sauce pasta? Continue reading Pasta alla Norma
Whatever the season, here’s a classic Italian veggie bake: Aubergine Parmigiana. As usual with typical dishes, this is a homemade tradition and every family has their own method and ingredients to make it. My friend Gianfranco from Puglia always says “You can be as beautiful as ever, but if you don’t know how to make parmigiana, you have no charm!” – this saying, applicable to men and women alike, illustrates how big a staple of the Italian kitchen this recipe is. Continue reading “Aubergine/Eggplants Parmigiana – a Classic Veggie Bake”
What do you do with left over minced meat? Try this Rou Gan recipe and turn your meat into a jerky-like snack! It’s saved a lot of expiring meat for me. I’m using minced pork here, but it also works for other types of meat, and of course if you have some leftover meat that’s not minced, you can always put it in a blender.
Bear in mind though that the end result is usually better if you have a cut with a high fat percentage, as the “drying” process will make the lean meat too hard. You can try and add a little vegetable oil to the mince mix if your meat is too lean – feel free to experiment, as this is more of a method than a recipe.
I won’t dwell too much on the name origin of pasta, specifically spaghetti Carbonara, for which many are the presumed stories , but none of them sure. What is certain is that this classic recipe from Lazio was popular only after the Second World War, it is one of the most famous recipes in the world, and also one of the simplest pasta sauces there are to make. Even with the internet, and with some Italian chefs becoming very popular around the world, there’s always a lot of curiosity about this recipe and the actual way you’re supposed to make it. It is definitely a winner at dinner parties with Anglo-Saxon friends – who will be awed at how magically you pull together their favourite breakfast ingredients in a dinner dish. This recipe serves two people.
Continue reading “Spaghetti Carbonara – the Classic Recipe”
I’m a fan of Ikameshi (a Japanese dish from Hokkaido made from whole squids stuffed with glutinous rice), but as it’s part of a regional cuisine, it’s very difficult to find in restaurants here. There are many amazing recipes for Ikameshi, and this version I’m sharing is by no means the most authentic. I wanted to make it without using my rice cooker or pressure cooker, and more importantly, wanted to make the stuffing much heavier on elements other than rice.
Continue reading “Stuffed Squid Chestnuts, Mushroom and Rice (Ikameshi)”
Having a sour soup can be very refreshing for the summer, and you will find the Knorr Sinigang Mix from most Asian supermarkets. The sourness comes from tamarind, and other essential ingredients include tomatoes, a meat of some sort and, often, green beans. In this version of the recipe using the Knorr Mix, we are going to use pork ribs, and to make them extra tender, we’ve included cooking it with an electric pressure cooker. Continue reading “Sinigang soup from Knorr Mix – a Filipino Sour Soup”
When you think of summer food, salad usually comes to mind (got to love a good summer salad). They are, actually, just as common in Chinese cooking, although instead of having a mix of different leaves, Chinese veggie cold dishes are usually made from a single ingredient. These are all very easy to make, so here are three salads with different flavours! They can all be prepared in advance and left in the fridge for dinnertime – no need worry about wilting leaves. Continue reading “Three Chinese Summer Cold Dishes – Tomato Cucumber and Wood Ears”
Just home from a trip to Kyoto, the city of tofu, I’ve been thinking more about easy home-cooking tofu recipes, and this tofu and Chinese cabbage combo is a typical one to make at home. It’s not quite a completely stir-fry recipe, so I haven’t called it as such. You will need to drop the tofu and the cabbage leaves into boiling water to remove the slightly odd taste that tofu sometimes has when you just unwrap it, and will need to wilt the cabbage a little so that you don’t need to stir vigorously once it’s in the oil pan – so as not to break the tofu apart. Continue reading “Tofu and Chinese Cabbage”
Blender & Basil 