The Fusion of Beef and Curry

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It was time to experiment on some food. I can't recall the last time I made a successful beef roll using sushi sheets, I know I've did some very successful ones before as posted in previous posts. So I thought I bring it back into the light :)

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Sad to admit my faults, but the beef did NOT turn out as magnificiently as it FIRMLY should. GRRR.. Not enough corn starch? I dunno, but the taste is just too salty for my liking. But on the brighter side of things, my curried couscous with cauliflower and courgettes turned out wonderfully tasty. With some added star anise for the added depth of flavour, the couscous is ultimately GOLD.

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Better luck next time with my beef roll :S

 Happy Eating and Cooking!

A Tofu Craving

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It was one of those days when I miss home and when I say home, I specifically mean TOFU. Oh the firmness and delicate taste of that wonderful beancurd. I miss it so much~ So I just had to bring myself to get it from the asian shop around the corner, though I could very well use that money to get meat instead :( But it's times like these that cost and worth are both different things.

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I had these tofu cooked in my usual korean soybean paste soup with lots of chilli powder imported from the good nation Korea itself. Ah~ What will I do without the spicy and hot broth they call Chilli. :)

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Instead of having the meehoon in the broth, I had it separated to make it sweet and sour with the onions. This, to counter balance the hot spicy broth I have at the side.

 Happy eating and cooking!

Food and Family

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How quickly the week has come to an end. It was Friday already and the week has ended. My friends (close friends they are) and myself decided to have a little dinner together and watch something together as a family :) SO, I've made some vermicelli noodles CHINESE style of course. Make my mama proud. ANd to accompany my best friend's Tikka Chicken, I've made spring onion and mozarella stuffed naan breads. And how gorgeous they turned out to be :)  My first time too!

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It was a great meal sitting together with the dining table full. I finally felt like it really was home. Wish my family was here too to make things even better. But on the brighter side, I've got the best and most understanding people by my side. WIth great food. I'm one lucky girl. :)

 Happy Eating and Cooking everyone!

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When Work Gets Me Down

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It was a tiring day and work just got to me and made me feel at the lowest. AGAIN. Like that's news anymore. So, in order to cheer myself up I've made myself use the halogen oven. Yes, I said "to cheer myself up" and oven in the same sentence. Might be the reason I scare some people off.

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So, for dinner I took the liberty to roast my veggies (as seen cherry tomatoes and flavoursome onions AND sweet potatoes) I tossed these veggies along with my couscous and WALA~ my dinner is done. Tired but still have the energy to concoct imaginations of food.

 Happy cooking and eating~!

Finding new solutions.

Source: Uploaded by user via Karyn on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Karyn on Pinterest

Trying out Pinterest to help sort my photo uploads. Having reached my limit in my storage account, means I need to sort out other methods of uploading photos into the blog.

Wonderful *NOT* Something I need, more WORK to settle. Already having tons in my load to work on, I HAVE THIS BLOG to manage.

Anyway, BACK to the food. The above photo shows. My interpretation of the Spicy Korean Doenjjang Jiggae with glass noodles *Courtesy of my mother*

 Those mussels? Heh I got them at 0.50p in Tesco. Pure luck I must say :) But now that they're cooked, it isn't even that much :P Anyway, happy cooking everyone! :)

From Scratch!

 Well, curiosity got the better of me when I finally attempted to make dumplings from SCRATCH. Yes, I mean it. Not just the filling but the skin as well :)
My first attempt was a saddening disappoinment. But that didn't stop me :)

 So, this time after molding the dumpling skin I refridgerated it before kneading it again. And I must say that made all the SENSE in the world. The mystery behind the dumpling skin just unravels before me :D

 I had some leftover beef fillings, so I made lil beef balls for my spicy doenjjang stew.

 I put in some napa cabbage into the stew and the red stew instantly made it look like kimchi. My version of an express kimchi :D

 A closer look at my "not so appealing" dumplings. The main point was just to MAKE a dumpling, with aesthetic regards aside.

 So, in a nutshell...Spicy Beef Ball Doenjjang Jiggae and Homemade dumpling.. aka as the Koreans call it Mandu was indeed a success :)

Happy cooking and eating everyone! :)

American Ginseng and A Side of Asparagus?

 Having the last piece of chicken sitting in my freezer, made me think of a nice end to my chicken feasts. How else? In this unpredictable weather, obviously! Ginseng again~ But this time, I'm using American Ginseng. Thick chunks and all :)

 Turned out pretty decent at the end, and also I had my asparagus to use. I was in the mood for porridge but with them asparagus? That will be one hell of an odd combo. SO! Asparagus couscous it is..*Already this Ginseng chicken soup and Couscous sound strange enough*

 *Claps hand* Anyway, it all weirdness..It worked and I'm proud to say that my Samsung S3 managed to capture these enticing moments without me having to use my bulky Cannon SX40.

 Needless to say, I had a good and decent dinner :)

After having that, it was all the fuel and pump I needed to get through the cold autumn's night.
Happy cooking and eating everyone! :)

The Magnificient Halogen Oven

After exams were done, I finally have the time to spare to explore my new gadget. Presenting thw new and amazing HALOGEN OVEN :)

Since I had one egg left, I thought I just made a simple chocolate brownie for my bestie since it's Deepavali the next day and being a pathetic friends as myself, can't go over to celebrate because of work :(

To compensate my unforgivable sin, I baked her something in return. And she never says no to my tasty treats.

I had to readjust the timer and temperature to make the batter bake evenly because it didn't bake through for the first two attempts when I took it out. Dx

After a dusting of icing sugar and everything becomes all pretty and better :)

Happy eating and cooking fellow readers and bloggers!

Quickie Spice Essence

Lots have happened since my last post. I've been lazy and neglecting my blogging duties :( But, in fairness I have had a torturous week previously having two exams. So, I've been living in the library everyday, weekend included! Dx 

Yes..I'm bitter and boring.

 So, with all that already past this week shall be my "resting week". By resting I mean still having notes to finish and deadlines to meet for assignments. Yeap..That's reality for many students in Uni alike.

 But, that still never stops me from cooking. In fact I think I have more time to waste on food decor since I have my laptop shunned away from me.

 Hehehe..I've been craving for Soto Ayam (Malay Chicken Stew) so I just thought why not make a quickie one hour boiled version. It should by right be boiled for an entire day for the true aroma and taste of the spices to flourish. But, time is something I can't buy with money :(

 So, with soup checked! Another simple main, perfect glass noodles! Snuggled in a bed of broccoli xD

 My beautiful cinnamon sticks and star anise gives this chicken broth the perfect kick without the hot and spiciness. I've been behaving well, not much spicy food. Wouldn't want to upset my stomach during exams period.

 Anyway, Happy eating and cooking fellow readers and bloggers!

Slurrrrrpsss~!

A Korean Samgyetang Substitute

Having chicken in my stock finally and not just pork ribs FINALLY gave me the chance to make some ginseng chicken soup :) 

Boiled it for just half an hour and discovered that the soup turned milky, sort of reminded me of the korean samgyetang soup actually :D

At the side I have soup, but what filled me up for the night? A nice bowl of veggie couscous with cauliflower :) Of course with a few spoons of Korean chilli powder with Doenjjang thrown into it to give it more flavour :D

 

Lighting aint impressive  but at least the food does me justice. Simple yet filling. AND I've just got my Andrew James halogen oven yesterday. Can't wait to give it a go! I soOoOo wanna bake eggs again!

Til my next post, Happy eating and cooking!

Another Post about Pork Ribs..

 

I've been behind in my blog posts lately since test is near and I've got a ton of things to study and memorize before D-Day. I'd be more worried with it if it were essay questions, but since it's MCQs I'm rest assured it can't be as bad as I'd expect.

 So, here are some of the yummy dinners I've fixed and left to blog about. This one here I've steamed pork ribs in white wine and ginger with some wolfberries/ goji berries thrown in for extra finish and oomph~

 And I've got pumpkin porridge to accompany this home-reminiscent pork "cuisine" if I may call it. :D

 I'd say the pork is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. After finishing the meat on the ribs, I've kept the bones for soup the next day. Planning to make some chicken ginseng soup to revitalize myself and with these extra bones thrown in for extra taste and depth.

 Well, it's definitely autumn already seeing as how dark it was when it was JUST 6pm. That's early and yet it felt like it was already past 7pm.

Anyway, Happy cooking and eating bloggers/readers! :)

Only Two.

After last night, staying up til 12am to surprise my bestie which I usually do not do for JUST anyone. Really, I take my sleeping hours very seriously and they deserve top most priority. But since she's my ultimate darling here. I'll make her a special exception and brought everyone together for last night for a surprise :)

 So now for some cooking ME time. Wasn't in the mood to be thinking what to have since I only have TWO vegetables in my fridge. *ashamed* ONIONS and celery.

 Couldn't do much with those to make a fancy dinner. So I had my dehydrated kelp aside to make some seaweed soup with some black fungus as well. :) Yummy Yum Yum at a budget.

 As you can see, the food's straight from the kitchen and onto the podium for their "beauty shots"

Happy Eating everyone!