Meatball Spaghetti

Serves 2.

Pasta
200g spaghetti
olive oil
salt

Sauce [cheat]
1/2 bottle tomato based pasta sauce of your choice (i used Leggo's Bolognese with mushroom)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 brown onion, chopped
1/4 stick medium carrot, grated
olive oil

Meatballs
250g minced meat of choice (i used beef)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp milk
1/4 stick medium carrot, grated
1 egg
1/2 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
dash of parsley
dash of oregano
dash of salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Boil spaghetti with hot water for 10 mins. Rinse with cold water. Drain. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Toss. Set aside.
2) Sauteed onions and garlic with olive oil. Add carrots. Toss. Add in tomato based sauce, bring to a boil. simmer on low heat. Cover.
3) For meatballs, mixed all the above ingredients until it forms a consistent paste. using 2 tablespoons, shape mixture into a ball and pan-fry with olive oil. Brown all sides. Place meatballs in simmering sauce. and cover for 5 minutes.
4) Using the same pan from frying the meatballs, toss cooked spaghetti from (1). Pour in meatballs and sauce. Toss.
5) Serve with parmesan cheese and basil leaf (which i sadly do not have hence the plain presentation :P).

really easy! try it :)

seremban's always famous for their crabs, donno why. always thought the crabs here are nothing great compared to kl's crabs, summore the prices of crab in seremban is nearly double the crab price in kl. but i tried this super delicious crab that day in seremban. sorry guys, the pic doesnt look that nice, coz i took the shot from my phone. but anyways, the 'siew hai'...ketam bakar, here is damn good. it smells so good when it's brought to ur table. n when u bite thru the meat, it's so juicy n sweet that u feel like ur eating crab in wonderful crabland :) the crab was so fresh, that the meat was tender n juicy. seriously, guys, we must go eat this siew hai when u guys come back. it's super good. totally recomend it.

the shop's just a shed beside the road. nothing great, but it's always crowded with ppl if u come late. the food's fantastic thou...that's the most important thing right? :) they also serve porridge, 'lou si fun', laksa, ikan bakar and sotong bakar there.

Sinful Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
105g unsweetened chocolate
170g butter
375g all purpose flour
3g baking soda
2g salt
5g baking powder
375g white sugar
3 eggs
8ml vanilla extract
230g sour cream
505g semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. In microwave or over a double boiler, melt unsweetened chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally until smooth. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2) In a medium bowl, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla until light. Mix in the chocolate mixture until well blended. Stir in the sifted ingredients alternately with sour cream, then mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3) Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

El Duo

I think I am not only in Medical School in Belfast, but in Culinary and Baking School as well. It's just that I will not graduate with a certificate from the latter. Whenever we celebrate our friends' birthdays, we actually bake the cakes ourselves, because cakes are just too expensive to be bought here! So here I am to share 2 recipes which are my favourites so far...


Strawberry CakeIngredients:
400g white sugar
225g butter, softened
4 eggs
400g sifted cake flour
10g baking powder
240ml whole milk
15ml vanilla extract
2 packs of fresh strawberries - make into puree.
Whipping cream
Icing sugar
Strawberry gelatin

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Grease and flour 2 tins. (to make it 2 layers!)
2) In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter alternatively with milk. Blend in vanilla and strawberry puree. Divide the batter evenly between prepared pans.
3) Bake for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cake to cool in pans for 10 minutes before topping out to cool completely.
4) Place thickly sliced strawberries with whipping cream in between the 2 cakes.

For the puree - crush fresh strawberries and mix it with icing sugar.

For the decoration and presentation I used whipping cream, sliced strawberries and strawberry gelatin. It can be changed according to your preferences!


Chocco-Mocha Caramel Cake
Ingredients:
2 tsp instant coffee granules/ powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp hot water
175g softened butter
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup
200g self-raising flour
4 tbsp milk
2 x 50g chocolate caramel bars (I used Cadbury Caramel Bars)

For the icing
2 x 50g chocolate caramel bars
50g butter
2 tbsp milk
100g icing sugar, sifted

Method:
1)Preheat oven - 160 degrees C. Butter the cake tin. Line the base with baking parchment.
2) Measure coffee and cocoa into a cup, add hot water, mix into a smooth paste. Put butter, sugar, eggs, syrup, flour, milk and cocoa paste in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Break caramel bars into sections and stir into mixture.
3) Turn the mixture into prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until top springs back when you press it lightly. Cool for 5 minutes, turn out, peel off lining paper, leave to cool.
4) Make icing - break up caramel bars and put in a small pan with butter and milk. Gently heat until smooth, stirring all the time, then remove from heat and stir in the icing sugar. Leave to cool until it thickens to leave a trail when you lift the spoon. Put cake on a serving plate, spread icing over the top, letting it fall softly down the sides, leave to set.

I used caster sugar and chocolate chips for decoration. Again, that's up to you own preferences.

That's all folks! I thought the latter was easier to make, but do give both a try, if you guys are free! ;)