Life in Mono...

Nepalese Momo Version II...

When I first went out with M, I wanted to learn everything about the Nepalese culture. This includes learning how to make his favourite food, the Nepalese Momo or Dumplings. The first time I made it, it was horrible. M was sweet to finish everything though.

So a few weeks ago, we went to a friends place and she was making Momo and I asked for tips. The reason why I was not successful the last time, was because of the dough.

I made a batch last week and it was fantastic. M helped by wrapping it up.

Anyway, I made it with a different meat this time and to tell you the truth, Mince pork is the best. I got the recipe from Recipezaar and tweaked it according to M's taste. I love it. I made Tomato Chutney too. It was very easy to make and east to cook.

Click continue to get recipe.

PB and Jelly Sandwich...

The other week I was craving Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. I know its not an Australian thing but I can't help it. I love the thing. I can not take Vegemite. Its weird. My cats love it though they will lick a teaspoon of Vegemite clean. :*)

Anyway, I hope to get my Internet connection up and running tonight. Lets just hope that everything goes through smoothly.

Yummy yummy...

 

What is that pyramid shaped thing you ask? Well it's called the Chang. I have no idea how to translate it to English but you can read about it HERE. I miss eating it. Last Sunday was Bak Chang Day so my colleague , also from Malaysia, brought some to work to share. Owh My GOD. That send me into a spiral of " Wow... these are not easy to make." "Did you make these?" "This is so Yummy" over and over again.

So that sent me on a mission. Looking for How - To's and recepies. I found a fair few. So I am tagging them on to del.icio.us and trying them out. They are not easy to make I tell you. My colleague told me that her future mother in law took 2 days making them. I say bring it on. If I am successful I will blog about it definitely.

With the new place, I have HEAPS of space to cook. I am excited ( I seem to be excited a lot these days hey?) ;*)

Fast Food...

I am still alive. Just needed time to get use to stuff. I took time off work today to rest. Anyway, I made homemade burgers and sweetpotato fries for dinner today. It was quick and yummy.

I know I said I will revealed everything on the 9th, but I can't wait. Everything will bbe revealed tomorrow. I promise.

Lemon Tuna Fettuccine...

A while back I got this book called the 4-Ingredient Recipes (ISBN 13 978 1 7418 1093 6) from the Post Office. Please do not confuse this book with THIS HIT BOOK. Nana and I have been cooking a lot these past few days. I  think its a change from my prepared meals from JC. This Lemon Tuna Fettuccine is sooooo easy to make.

1 serving : 509 calories; 14.9g total Fat; 8.2 g Saturated Fat

INGREDIENTS:-

• 370g Spinach Fettuccine
• 1/4 cup Garlic Butter, soften (we made our own garlic butter its easy just crushed garlic and add it to your butter)
• 1 medium Lemon
• Can of white tuna in water, drained and broken up

HOW TO:-

1. Cook fettuccine in boiling salted water in large uncovered pot according to directions on packet.Drain and return to same pot.
2. Add butter and sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir until butter is melted.
3. Grate 2 teaspoon lemon zest into small bowl. Squeeze and add 2 tablespoon lemon juice. Stir. Add to fettuccine. Toss. Add tuna. Toss well.

Serves 4.

Stir-fried beef and noodles...

It may not look yummy in this picture but trust me it is. Mmmm.... I had this for dinner. This recipe is taken from my JC cook book called "healthy living for life".

It serves 4 and per-serve it has 2597 Kilojoules (618 cal). 13.6g of fat and 4.1g of saturated fat.

Ingredients:-

• 400g packet of fresh rice noodles
• olive oil spray
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons peanut oil
• 500g lean rump steak, trimmed and thinly sliced across the grain
• 3 tablespoon kecap manis (or sweet soy sauce)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt reduced soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt reduce fish sauce
• 300g bean sprouts
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• lemon wedges to serve

How to:-

• Put Noodles in a large heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for 8 minutes or until soften (or follow packet instructions). Gently separate the noodles and drain.
• Heat a wok over medium heat and spray with olive oil spray. Add the beaten eggs, swirl to coat and cook for 1-2 minutes, chopping board, roll it up and cut into shreds.
• Reheat the wok over high heat, add the peanut oil and swirl to coat. Stir-fry the beef in batches for 3 minutes, or until browned. Remove from the wok and set aside.
• Reduce the heat to medium, add the noodles and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Combine the kecap manis, soy sauce and fish sauce, then add to the wok with the sprouts and white pepper. Stir -fry for a further 2 minutes. Return the egg and beef to the wok and stir-fry for another 3 minutes, or until the sprouts has wilted and the noodles are soft but not falling apart. Serve with lemon wedges.

Note:-

• The original recipe calls for Chinese broccoli.
• I usually swap the pork for the beef.
• I also usually added chilli sauce or sambal
• I sometimes swap the lemon with lime.

Let me know what you think.

f00d p0rn...

After watching Nigella last night I decided to give it a go. These my dear friends are Nigella's Royal Icing Cupcake. Yummy. Delicious and a tad dry. My bad. I did not add enough milk.... owh well next time. They are easy to make too. Took me less than 1 hour to make. Here is how you make it.

CUPCAKE

This will make 12 cupcakes.

Heat up oven for 200C

• 4oz flour
• 4oz sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4oz unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bi carb soda
• 2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoon milk

1. Blitz flour, sugar,eggs, butter, baking powder, bi carb soda and vanilla essence together until smooth.
2. Add milk.
3. Add one tablespoon full in each cupcake holder. (believe me this is enough)
4. Put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
5. Leave to cool

ROYAL ICING

• 350g Royal Icing Sugar (run it through the seive)
• 2 egg whites
• A squeeze of lemon juice

1. Whisk Icing sugar and egg white until fluffy. (about 5 minutes)
2. Add lemon juice and whisk again.
3. Add to cooled cupcakes.

I hope you like it. If you do make it, please let me know what you think. I think Nigella is the best. She had her Dessert show last night and I am going to try everything she made yesterday.

Tea Tasting...

Tonight Tiff, Kim, Nana and I went to Leaf for their Ceylon Tea tasting night. We tasted 6 different types of teas and ate all those finger food. My favourite tea was the Great Grandfather tea. We also learned a lot of things about teas. How to correctly prepare them to how to store them properly so that they would not lose their taste. We had a great night learning about teas. And the food...they had this fantastic sandwich it was cheese and I think mashed asparagus. yummy.

I also bought their Chai Masala tea. I am searching for the best Chai Tea and so far, I only found 2 places that is worth the money that you pay. Leaf and Harvest Restaurant in Freo. Now all I have to do is find the perfect tea pot for it. :*) Pictures now...

L-R Top to Bottom :- Yummy Finger Food, Tiff Nana and Kim, The most fantastic finger sandwiches ever and funky teapots and mugs.

I nearly almost bought those teapots but was stopped by Tiff when she said that I could get better ones at David Jones. So maybe I will pop by the City when I do my outside work tomorrow.

Nepalese Stew...

Ok... as promised the recipe for the Stew that I made. Now please note that I do not measure the ingredients for the spices. So its all how you like it to taste. M likes it very spicy so I add extra chillies for him

So here is what you need.

Lamb meat, (it can be the bony part or the meat part. But I like the to mix a little bit of both.)

Potatoes, again depends on how much you want.

Frozen Baby Carrots.

Onion, garlic, ginger (chopped ) and chili paste

Chilli powder, cumin powder, salt and pepper to taste

Plain flour.

Here is how you make it...

1. In a large pot pour in some water in to the pot and boil the lamb meat until its cooked.
2. Once the meat is boiled add in the cumin powder chili powder salt and pepper.
3. In another pan, fry the chopped onion ginger and garlic with a little bit of oil.
4. Once the onion ginger and garlic has soften add the chili paste.
5. After frying the onion ginger and garlic add it to the meat and let it simmer for a few hours.
6. For the noodle bit, add flour and water until it becomes doughy. Then, pinch a bit of dough and roll it until its long. Then add the noodle in the stew and simmer for a few more minutes until all the dough is used up.

There. I hope you guys can understand that. If you have any question please feel free to leave a comment. If you tried it please let me know what you think too. :*)

Rice and Stew...

Here is what I did as soon as I got back from work today. After work I went to the local grocery store and got some supplies and went home changed and stared cooking up a storm.

Yep I spent 4 hours cooking dinner for M to be frozen so that he does not have to eat instant noodles which by the way is banned from entering the house. So in order for M to start eating healthy, cooked Nepalese Lamb Stew called Yakcha ( I think. I will confirm it later) and fried rice.

So M is all sew for another 2 weeks. I am tired and I am leaving the washing up to M because I do not like doing the dishes and I need to sit down...Will also post up the recipe for the Stew tomorrow.

P/S: Please excuse the lonely spring onion in the Vege crisper. :*)