White Snapper Rice Noodle Soup

My mother and I are fans of rice noodle fish soup. I usually opt for this menu when we have steamed fish the previous day because that means we will have the leftover sauce from the dish, which I use to make the broth.

all you need:

250 grams of dried rice noodle (vermicelli)

1 red snapper fish head (halved, preferably steamed with soya sauce)

50 grams of lettuce leaves

6 medium size chilli paddy (sliced *optional)

2 knuckles of ginger (sliced or chrushed)

3 cloves of garlic (minced, sautéd until brown and fragrant with 2 Tbs of vegetable oil, separated from the oil)

1/2 c steamed soya fish sauce(or all, depends on how much leftover we have)

1500 ml water

2 Tbs of sesame oil

a pair of chinese pork sausage(sliced and sautéd until a bit crunchy)

20 ml of salty soya sauce

a handful of cilantro 

5 stalks of scallion (sliced)

1 small tomato (divided into four, *optional)

How to:

1. Boil the vermicelli until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. Bring to boil the 1500 ml water and 1/2 c of the steamed soya fish sauce. Add the sliced chilli paddy.
3. Add the 20 ml of salty soya sauce(try if it's not salty enough you could add more soya sauce or salt to your taste)
4. Add the leftover oil from sautéing garlic plus 2 Tbs of sesame oil. Stir until all well-mixed.
5. After the broth is seething, insert the vermicelli and the fish head. Bring to boil for about 5-10 mins.
6. Make two servings.
7. Serve with slices of pork sausages, chopped lettuce, sliced scallion, cilantro and fried garlic. 

Fried Noodle for Breakfast

These are from my absence several months ago, when I was still planting water spinach. 

Just like other normal morning, I was preparing breakfast for my mother and I. And just like what I usually do, cooking from what I have in the fridge!

And the menu that morning was spicy fried noodle with home grown water spinach and herbs. What could be better than that? 

Asian Savory Spaghetti

Asian Savory Spaghetti served in one of my favorite childhood vintage enameled tin plates

Cooking is an 'adventure' for me where I can explore as far as I like to. There's a zillion of recipes to experiment with and so many ingredients and spices to explore. In the end you can always come up  to something that fits your standard and appetite. Your own recipe!

However, I have a big issue. I hate to spend tons of money shopping ingredients just to learn or cook one new recipe and not sure of when I will be using the leftover ingredients! Instead, I like to invent my own recipes with ingredients I have in my fridge! I'm sure some of you can identify with it! :-)

So this morning, again, I am making breakfast for my family. And today I'm going to make an 'East meets with the West' kind of recipe, of course with all the dry and fresh ingredients I have at home and in the fridge! Yay!!

It's a fried spaghetti and I call it "Asian Savory Spaghetti" because I'm using a couple of ingredients that are specifically from Asia and mostly used by the Chinese and Indians: Cumin powder and Bakwa (Chinese Sweet and Salty Pork Jerky). I am glad with the fact that I still have some more Bakwa in my freezer. It's just as good for fried rice and fried noodles as it is slightly fried with a little oil and served with steamed rice! So, let's start cooking!

Ingredients:
1 cup of Sugar Peas Pod, whole
1 cup of red/purple cabbage, shredded
2 cups of mixed-color Paprika/Bell Pepper (green, yellow, orange and red), chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
10 hot red pepper
6 small spring onion
1-2 pieces of Bakwa, cubed
500 mg of Spaghetti
1/2 cup of vegetable oil or olive oil
11/2 Tbs of Cumin Powder
Salt
Water

How to:
1. Boil the spaghetti until all dente, set asside and continue to heat the oil in the skillet. Sauté garlic until brown and fragrant. Stir ini onion.

2. Then, add the hot pepper, Bakwa and Cumin Powder. Stir until the meat is slightly crisp and fragrant.

3). Put the cabbage and bell pepper.

4) Stir until slightly cooked.

5) Because sugar peas pod only takes a while to cook and best when it's still crunchy, make sure you add it after the other veggies are tender.

6) Add in the spaghetti and a little water to help making all the ingredients blended.

7) Sprinkle salt, adjust it to your own taste but make sure it's not over, so it won't overwhelm the taste of other ingredients. Stir until all ingredients are well blend.

8) Done!

Cumin Fried Spaghetti

I am a fan of cumin and love to experiment with it in my cooking. I was first fallen with cumin when my best friend's helper cooked "Gulai Aceh" (a special fish curry from Aceh); I experimented with my own recipes ever since. So, one day I made this cumin spaghetti and my family loved it, it has become one of my signature dish so far! 

Ingredients :
1 medium ripe tomato, diced
1 orange/red/green bell pepper (or combination of three for more color, I happened to have the orange color one only in my fridge), diced
1 packet (500 gr) of spaghetti
300 gr chicken breast, minced (I like to use shrimp too but you can of course subsitute it with ground beef)
salt

Condiment, finely ground using blender or stone mortar and pestle:
2 cloves of garlic
3 cloves of onion
5-7 red pepper
1 cm of fresh tumeric
1 Tbs of ground cumin
3-4 Tbs of olive oil

How to:
1. Boil the spaghetti until al dente.

2. Sauté the condiment with olive oil til fragrant, add  bell pepper and tomato, and stir in minced chicken breast until well cooked. You may add more oil if it's getting dried up (adjust it to your preference, especially if you like more olive oil with your spaghetti).

3. Finally, add boiled spaghetti and stir well and add salt (adjust it to your taste). Serve.