From The Kitchen: Spaghetti Bolognese with a Twist

Dish: Spaghetti bolognese with a twist

Cost of preparation: £3 - £4

No, it's not your conventional spaghetti bolognese because this spaghetti is twisted in sausages! Kids will be sure to enjoy it. And we're all kids at heart, aren't we? :)

Ingredients:

• 200g minced beef
• 1 bottle bolognese sauce
• 1 packet spaghetti pasta
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 4 long sausages
• Oregano
• Cheddar/parmesan cheese
• BBQ grind 
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Garlic granules

Pasta preparation:

1. Slice the sausages diagonally so the surface of the sliced sausage is larger.

1. Twist about five sticks of spaghetti into a slice.

3. When complete, place them all in a pot of boiling water. Boil according to the instructions on your pasta package.

4. Remove from pot and place on plates.

Bolognese sauce:

1. Season minced beef with salt, pepper, garlic granules and some BBQ grind.

1. Chop some garlic and onions.

2. Heat pan up with oil and fry chopped garlic and onions until fragrant. 

3. Throw in the seasoned beef and fry until beef turns pale brown.

4. Empty the bottle of bolognese sauce into pan and stir well. Add salt and pepper according to preference.

5. Throw in the cherry tomatoes and fry for another two minutes.

6. Remove from pan and place on the cooked spaghetti.

Finishing touch: 
Sprinkle some oregano and garnish with cheese while still hot. (You can use shredded cheddar or parmesan or both!)

It's easy, it's fun, and it's delicious! Do try it and leave a comment below if you liked it.

Photographed by Timothy Ho and written by Vivian Kuan.

Images edited by Carissa Gan.

From The Kitchen: Chilli Pan Mee

Dish: Chili pan mee

When you live abroad, you long for the comfort of home. Chili pan mee provides that sense of comfort for me and my other Malaysian housemates. If you're a Malaysian studying abroad and you're craving for a bowl of chili pan mee, you're at the right page. 

This recipe is meant to feed 10 people, but you're free to tweak it for yourself. :) Oh, and if you're not fond of chili, you can omit the chili in this.

Ingredients:

• 13 eggs
• 1 pack self-raising flour
• Minced pork for 10 people (depending on how much you want to serve per quantity)
• Fried onions
• Spinach
• Ikan bilis (anchovies)
• Chopped onion and garlic
• Maggi sauce (or other bottled chili sauce), Singlong sambal ikan bilis, chili flakes (or you could make your own chili - blend garlic, onion and chili with salt and pepper and a little bit of water)

Pan mee (noodles): 

1. Mix some flour and a little bit of water together with three eggs. 

2. Fold the mixture over and over again until it becomes dough. 

3. Make sure it's not too sticky so you can pinch/cut it into thin slices. 

4.Roll the dough to a very thin, flat shape (like a very flat pancake) 

5. Slice the dough to make noodles. Or just tear it with your fingers if you want to save time!
6. Throw your noodles into a pot of boiling water. You'll know it's cooked when it floats up.

7. Take your noodles out and drain the water away. Apportion them into bowls.

Eggs: 

1. Fill a pot with water. 

2. Immerse the eggs into the pot of boiling water and start to boil for 2 minutes. 

3. Drain the water out and take the eggs out. Crack the eggs and place them on top of the noodles.

Minced pork: 

1. Marinate with sugar, salt, pepper. 

2. Heat the pan with oil. 

3. Throw in some chopped up onions and garlic. Fry till fragrant. 

4. Throw in the pork and fry with some oyster sauce, sesame sauce. 

5. When fully cooked, apportion the pork into the bowls.

Ikan bilis (anchovies): 

1. Deep fry until golden brown and serve them in bowls.

Fried onions: 

There are two ways to do this:

A) Buy the pre-fried onions. They are usually sold in packs.

B) Do it the manual way. Chop onions into smaller pieces, coat them with corn flour and deep fry. Serve in bowls.

Soup: 

1. Boil water and add some soup flavour (eg: Adabi/Knorr Ikan bilis). 

2. Wash spinach and throw them into the soup. 

3. Leave to boil and serve in small bowls.

Chili: 

1. Throw in some chopped onion and garlic into boiling hot oil.

2. Fry until fragrant and add some maggi chili sauce, SingLong sambal ikan bilis and chili flakes (or the blended chili).

3. Add a little bit of water (so it doesnt dry up and burn).

4. Fry the chili till dark red and serve into bowls. (if you put too much water, it'll make your chilli wet. so it depends if you like yr chili wet or dry.

 Although the preparation takes a while, the result is always satisfying!


Photographed by Timothy Ho and written by Vivian Kuan. 
Images edited by Carissa Gan.